


Kope Kamekona

by pterawaters



Series: Kope Kamekona [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Multi, PTSD, Polyamory, Sharing a House, Shooting Range, back from the dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-10 14:32:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5589829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just two years after her husband was killed in action, Catherine wasn't looking to meet anyone new. Then, she started doing her freelance work in her local coffee shop, Kope Kamekona. Danny Williams, former-cop-and-current-author, caught her attention when he knocked over her coffee and was nice enough to buy her a new one. She finally felt like she was starting to move on with her life, so of course that was when her past came back for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feverpitchfiasco](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverpitchfiasco/gifts).



> This work was cheered along and beta read by several wonderful people, including thewildestcucumber, phantomavenger, linsey, tresa_cho, and joannereads. Thanks for all your help, everyone! This wouldn't have been nearly as good without your help!
> 
> To my gift recipient, feverpictchfiasco: I kind of took your prompt of a coffee shop AU in a nontraditional direction. I hope you'll forgive me!!

Catherine's reading a report from one of her contacts in Yemen when she hears a soft, "Shit!" and then the clatter-and-splash of her coffee cup being knocked off the table. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry!"

Once Catherine checks to make sure her shoes aren't wet, she looks up to see the person who's put a damper on her morning. It's a man, probably mid-to-late thirties, like herself, with slicked-back blonde hair and broad shoulders. He looks sort of half flustered, half pissed off as he sets his own drink on the table next to Catherine's, shoves his bag and coat onto the chair, and then bends down to pick up the spilled cup. He sets one hand on Catherine's table as he stands, and she notices his hands are bigger than his frame would suggest, with blunt, masculine fingers.

A sheepish, almost boyish, look on his face, he meets Catherine's eyes and starts to hand her the empty cup. Before Catherine can take it, he pulls it away and says, "No, you know what? I owe you a new one. What are you having?" He sniffs the cup, which makes Catherine chuckle sharply. "Dark roast? Latte, obviously. No syrups. Skim milk?"

"Low-fat," Catherine tells him, smiling despite herself. "Half-caff."

He points at her with a charming grin. "You got it. Watch my stuff?" He gestures toward the table one over. 

"Sure," she replies, watching as he heads back to the register. He's wearing slacks that fit his ass really well, and Catherine feels a surge of attraction toward him in the back of her throat. 

Huh.

It's been awhile since that's happened. Catherine thinks Kono will be proud of her when she hears the news. 

As she turns back to her reading, Catherine can't help but look up over her laptop now and again. Sometimes the man is standing there waiting for Flippa the barista to get to him, hands in his pockets and eyes focused a thousand yards away. Other times he's watching Catherine, smiling when she catches him.

Coffee in hand a few minutes later, the man returns. "Here you go, my lady," he says with a grin and a silly little bow. He drops a wad of napkins on the ground and quickly wipes up the spill, with the ease of many hours practice doing just that.

Catherine chuckles. "Thank you, my good sir." She takes the cup and holds it between her hands, the cartoon face of the owner (Kamekona) smiling brightly at her. "Is now a bad time to tell you I was almost done with the other one?" She grins over the lid of the cup and blows into the hole to cool the coffee. 

"Is now a…" he repeats, before giving a mock-affronted scoff. He takes the few steps over to the garbage can, throws away the napkins, and then returns, shaking his head. He holds out his hand and says, "Hi. I'm Danny."

"Catherine," she replies, taking his hand and shaking it. His palm is warm and dry, and Catherine tries not to think about the last time she held a man's hand. She's fairly certain it was her father's hand at the funeral. That was almost two years ago.

Catherine knows she's meant to be moving on, but she hasn't felt like doing anything to make that happen. Until now. 

As she draws her hand back, Catherine asks, "Here to work?"

Danny gives Catherine a blank look until she nods at his bag. His face lights up and he goes, "Oh! Oh, yeah. I get more done in the library, but they won't let me bring coffee anymore."

"I could never imagine why," Catherine says, taking an admittedly flirty sip of her still-too-hot drink. 

Danny laughs, his smile bright before he covers his mouth and makes an appeasing gesture toward the elderly man scowling at them from across the sitting area. Catherine sets down her drink and leans on her hand as she watches Danny flounder, just slightly embarrassed. "Hey, d–" Danny starts to say, but he stops short, frowning.

"What?" Catherine asks, intensely curious about Danny's intentions with the words he stopped himself from saying. "What were you going to ask?"

Danny's ears are tinged pink, and he makes a gesture with his hands that threatens to knock over his coffee. Before that happens, Danny confesses. "I _was_ going to ask if I could buy you another drink sometime, but then I saw the wedding ring." He points to where Catherine's jaw is resting on her left hand. 

Catherine sits up and spreads out her left hand. She'd forgotten she was still wearing the ring. She'd had it on a chain around her neck for awhile, but it had felt weird, not wearing it. Closing her hand and putting it back down on the table, Catherine tells Danny, "My husband died."

She hates the way his face crumples with sympathy. "Oh, Jeez. I'm sorry. Was it recently?"

Catherine shakes her head, even though the pain feels recent enough. "Two years ago." She gives Danny a smile to show that she's okay. Then, she notices Danny rubbing his own left ring finger. "How'd your marriage end?"

Danny looks down at his hand and chuckles. "We've got a detective here!" He shakes his head and sits back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "Divorce. Three years ago."

"Well, now that we've got that sorted out," Catherine says, curling her toes in her shoes the way she always does when she's psyching herself up for something scary. "Danny, how would you like to go get a drink sometime?"

Chuckling and letting his arms fall, Danny nods. "Yeah. That sounds good, Catherine."

"Good," she replies, turning back toward her computer. They exchange numbers and then Catherine says, "Now, I really need to finish reading this report..."

"Oh! Yeah, of course. Plenty of work to do myself," he says, pulling a legal pad and a computer out of his bag. 

As Catherine reads the same sentence over and over, she watches Danny out of the corner of her eye. He reads his handwritten notes and pokes at the keys of his laptop, occasionally whipping out a sentence or two with practiced, lightning-quick fingers. 

Catherine can't quite read the words he's writing, but Danny makes a series of faces at them, which Catherine finds incredibly endearing. 

Danny catches Catherine smiling at him, and smiles back. "What?"

"What are you working on? It's giving you the best faces." Catherine turns in her chair to better face Danny.

Danny turns toward Catherine as well. "You really want to know?"

"Yeah, I do," Catherine insists. She notices the way Danny's mirroring her posture, which she knows is a great sign. 

"It's a mystery novel," Danny tells her. "That's what I do. Write mystery novels. Well, it's what I do now, anyway."

Catherine finds herself chuckling. "What do you mean, now?"

Danny shrugs. "I used to be a cop. A detective."

Impressed, Catherine nods. "A detective! All right!"

"What do you do?" Danny asks, tapping his pen against his pad of paper and smiling. 

"I'm in Intelligence," Catherine tells Danny. "Used to be Navy, now I work for corporations."

"Like, a spy?" Danny asks, leaning closer with a conspiratorial grin.

"More like an analyst who also went through naval officer training," Catherine replies, raising an eyebrow at Danny.

He chuckles and asks, "So, now that you've told me this, are you gonna have to kill me?" The tone of his voice is low, almost dangerous, and it threatens to send a shiver up Catherine's spine.

"Nah. You're not in that deep yet," she says, gratified when Danny downright giggles. "I'll give you a heads up before the black helicopters come for you."

"See that you do," Danny says, laying his hand over Catherine's forearm, just long enough that she gets a thrill from the contact without being overwhelmed. 

~*~

"I can't believe I forgot the tickets," Catherine says as she leads Danny from the car up toward the front door of her little house. 

"It's not a big deal," Danny tells her, curious to finally get a look at Catherine's place. They've been out a few times in the past few weeks, but they've always met at Kope Kamekona and gone from there. 

Catherine's house is small, but nice and well-maintained. The floorplan is fairly open: a front entry leading to a dining room and living room, leading to a kitchen. Catherine ducks toward the back of the house, and presumably the bedroom. While Danny would like nothing more than to follow her back there and convince her to skip the play entirely, she hasn't invited him. He stays in the living room instead.

There's a cool sculpture on one of the end tables that Danny spends a few minutes trying to figure out whether it looks more like a person or a tree, and then he sees it. There's a framed photograph on a mantel-like shelf along one wall. It shows Catherine all done up, a tiara nestled into the dark brown curls of her hair. She's got bare shoulders and, where her dress starts near the bottom of the photo, the fabric is definitely white.

In the photo, Catherine's smiling and standing next to a very handsome man. The man's wearing a dark grey tux, with a blue tie and a light blue boutonniere in his lapel. The man is smiling brightly, and Danny's heart aches. He remembers being happy like this on his wedding day.

Nothing lasts forever.

As Danny backs away from the photo, he hears Catherine's footsteps approach. Giving her a sympathetic smile, he points at the picture and asks, "This your husband?"

"Yeah," Catherine replies, her smile sad and fond. "That's Steve."

Danny gestures back toward the photo. "He, uh, he was very good looking."

Laughing, Catherine nods, wrapping her arms around herself. "He was a little less beautiful first thing in the morning with his hair sticking up everywhere and bad breath," she admits, letting Danny draw her into a hug. "But, yeah. He was pretty handsome."

Squeezing his arms around Catherine and setting a quick kiss against her temple, Danny says, "What the hell are you doing with me? Guys who look like Steve are definitely more your caliber."

"Oh, don't say that. You're very good looking, Danny," Catherine insists, and Danny really wasn't fishing for a compliment, but hey, he'll take it. "Guys like Steve…" Catherine trails off, leaning against Danny with a little more weight. She sighs, and eventually says, "Steve was such an optimist. Even though he'd had tragedy in his life, it was like he could never believe it would happen to us. I don't think I could be with someone like that again."

With a noise of agreement, Danny gets between Catherine and the photo, catching her eye and giving her a smile. "We pessimists got to stick together, huh?"

"Damn straight," she says with a decisive nod. Taking Danny's hand in hers, Catherine pulls him toward the door. "C'mon. We're gonna be late."

~*~

It's early when Catherine gets to Kope Kamekona, but Danny's already there, two cups of coffee on the table he's claimed for them. Catherine sits down in the chair next to Danny's and says, "Hey. I thought you were dropping Grace off at school."

"Yeah," Danny says, his blue eyes still a little bleary as he leans over to give Catherine a coffee-flavored kiss. "She had a cheer practice before school today. Wanted me to drop her off almost an hour early."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Catherine says, rubbing her hand up and down Danny's back. "I know you haven't been sleeping well lately." She manages to scratch her fingers through the hair at the base of Danny's skull without him waving her off. He must really be out of it. "Are we still okay to have dinner with Grace tonight?"

Danny nods. "Yeah. We've got to have her back to Rachel's by eight, but Grace is dying to show you the new game she has on her phone."

Catherine chuckles. Before Steve died, they had occasionally talked about having kids, and she'd always vaguely thought she wouldn't mind having one or two at some point. It was always, "After this tour," or "after that promotion," and they never got around to it before he was killed. Now that she has Danny in her life, Catherine also has Grace. She doesn't feel very maternal toward Grace. It's more of a big sister feeling, which Catherine figures Grace appreciates. Grace already has a mother and a stepfather, as well as Danny. She doesn't need another parent.

Giving Danny another smile, Catherine says, "I'm looking forward to it."

She pulls out her work (this time it's a little forensic accounting to figure out whether one company is ripping off another) and gets everything all set up. She watches Danny from the corner of her eye, seeing the way he prods at his laptop and sips his coffee like it's liquid gold.

"What was it keeping you awake last night?" Catherine asks, giving Danny a look until he relents and tells her.

"My publisher wants a summary of my next book," he tells her, eyes on his coffee as he plays around with a drop on the lid.

"You're not done with this one yet," Catherine points out. Even though Danny won't let her read what he's been writing, he gives her a pretty up-to-date play-by-play.

With a scoff, Danny sits back and throws out his arm. "I know! But apparently, if I want to keep getting paid, I have to keep writing these books I'm contracted for. Crazy, right?"

"Completely insane," Catherine agrees with a chuckle. "Is it supposed to be another Jane and Holden book?"

Nodding, Danny rubs his temples with his fingers. "And I can't think of what I want it to be about. I was a detective for ten years. You'd think I could remember some of the crazier cases. Draw from experience, or something." He sighs. "It's writer's block. I'm doomed."

"No, it's just the yips," Catherine insists. "Once the pressure is off, you'll be writing again in no time."

Danny gives Catherine a calculating look. "The yips, huh?"

Catherine nods, pulling up the first few files she's working on this morning. "Definitely the yips. Just gotta get out of your head."

Leaning close, Danny puts his chin on Catherine's shoulder. In a low voice, he murmurs, "You know what's a good activity for getting out of one's head?"

Now, Catherine's certain she knows what activity Danny's speaking about. She's also certain that this assignment she has open isn't due for another week. Pressing her lips together, Catherine turns her head to look at Danny's face. He's not begging or anything, but he's got this hopeful expression.

Catherine's so bad at ignoring that face.

She closes her laptop. "Okay, but you're buying me lunch."

"I already bought you coffee," Danny says, pointing to the barely touched drink. Thank goodness it's already in a paper to-go cup. 

"Good point," Catherine replies, packing up the rest of her things. She leans toward Danny, giving him a kiss that's sure to wake him up. "I'll race you to your place."

As Catherine leaves the coffee shop, she hears Danny curse and his papers hit the ground with a whoosh. Catherine could go back and help him pick up, but she definitely wants to beat Danny home. She's got an idea in her head and she's going to need a minute or two lead-time to pull it off.

Catherine's certain that once he sees her, Danny will forgive her abandoning him.

~*~

Danny turns over in the middle of the night, reaching for Catherine only to find she's not there. "Cat?" he says softly, but he doesn't hear her in the adjoining bathroom.

It's been a month since Danny moved into Catherine's house, and he's pretty much got the layout down so he can wander easily through the house in the dark looking for her. There's still that damn side table in the hallway that Danny manages to run into almost every time he leaves the bedroom, and tonight is no different. He holds onto the table until the knick knacks on it stop shaking, and then carefully goes around it.

Maybe she got called out on a job, and didn't want to wake him? Danny flips on the light over the stove and checks the kitchen counter and the face of the refrigerator. There aren't any notes, and her keys are still in the bowl next to the row of cookbooks she inherited from her grandmother.

Must still be in the house, then.

Danny makes a tour of the living room and dining room, checks the powder room, and ends up in the hallway back toward the bedroom. The door to the office is closed, where it normally wouldn't be unless Grace brought the dog with her from Rachel's. There's no Grace tonight, and no dog, so Danny figures it's a fair bet that Catherine's in the office.

He opens the door slowly, finding Catherine curled up on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her laptop on her knees. She's got her head resting on the back of the couch, her eyes closed. Thinking Catherine is probably asleep, Danny approaches her quietly, picking up her headphones from where they've fallen onto the floor and then easing the laptop from her knees.

Catherine sighs a little, but doesn't wake.

When Danny turns the laptop around, he sees that a video of Steve talking at the camera is playing. Oh, jeez. Catherine's been in here, watching this, probably crying if the tissue clutched in her hand is any indication, and Danny's been asleep. He wants to wrap himself around her and protect her from this sadness, even though he knows he can't. 

The video jumps, the loop starting over again, and Danny gets curious. He picks up one of the earbud headphones and pops it into his ear.

"...can't really say where we are, obviously," Steve's saying, his eyes widening comically to make his point. "We don't really have the bandwidth for a video call, but I thought maybe you could get your fix in this way." Steve grins at the camera, mugging for it as the background moves and he settles back against what looks like a cot, holding the camera over his head. "I miss your face, too, Cath."

Steve's distracted by a muffled voice from off camera, which makes him laugh, and Danny thinks Steve's laugh might be one of the most beautiful things he's seen in his entire life. Turning back to the camera, Steve addresses Catherine again. "Freddie says you should send me naked pictures, but you should absolutely _not_ do that."

There's some more of that voice from off camera, which makes Steve laugh again.

Addressing this Freddie guy, Steve says, " _Because_ , I have a photographic memory, asshole! I don't need naked pictures of my wife to remember what she looks like. Besides, you'd just steal them, don't tell me you wouldn't!" Steve turns back toward the camera. "I'll see you soon enough, right? Bali is still on. One week from now and it's going to be you and me, the beach to ourselves, that steak dinner I owe you…" Steve wiggles his eyebrows at the camera, and Danny has to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

God, Steve and Catherine had been _in love_ , in love. Danny feels like he can't ever live up to the precedent that this man left in Catherine's life. Is she so lonely without him that she's willing to settle for _Danny_? Jesus, what happens when she's finally done mourning Steve and she wakes up and realizes she can do so much better than Danny?

"Anyway, I love you, Cath," Steve says, giving the camera half a smile. "Have a good week. Try not to kill your C.O." He takes a sharp breath. "Oh, and call your old man! He keeps sending me these _emails_ asking after you. Did you know he's going to Hawaii in the fall? He wants us to meet him there. I'm pretty sure he and my dad have this whole fishing vacation planned. It's…" Steve laughs and shakes his head. "We can't leave them alone together!"

There's some more murmuring from off camera, which draws Steve's attention, and makes him nod seriously. "Okay." He looks back at the camera and makes a quick kissing noise. "Okay, I gotta go. Love you. I'll try to call you soon. Bye!"

The angle shifts as Steve turns off the camera, and the video loops around again. Steve turns on the camera and gives it a wave and a smile. "Hi, Catherine!"

A hand on Danny's shoulder startles him, and it takes most of his concentration to keep the laptop from dropping out of his hands. He sets it down on the office desk, pulling the bud out of his ear. "Hey."

"Hey," Catherine replies, the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. She touches Danny's waist carefully, like she's afraid he's going to be mad at her. "Sorry, I…" She nods at the laptop. "I was just…"

"Don't worry about it," Danny insists, wrapping his arms around Catherine's shoulders and holding her close. "I get it. It's nice to remember how it was _before_."

Catherine clears her throat and nods, her face rustling the fabric of Danny's shirt. "Yeah. It is."

They stand together in silence for a moment, and Danny notices the way Catherine's still tense against him. He asks, "Is it okay that I watched the video? I'm sorry, I was just curious, and it was playing and I–"

"It's okay," Catherine insists. "Now that I'm not in the Navy anymore, I don't really have any friends who knew him. It's kind of nice, sharing him with you." She smiles, pressing her forehead against Danny's. "I think you would've liked him."

"If this video was true to form," Danny says, tilting his head toward the laptop, "then I'm sure I would have. Except I might have been jealous about how he got to you first." Danny hugs Catherine tighter, making her squeak and giggle.

"Danny!" she cries out, and it's one of those laughing complaints Danny knows he shouldn't take seriously.

"C'mon. Let's go back to bed," he says, lifting Catherine off her feet and taking a few steps toward the office door before she gets leverage back on her side and twists out of Danny's grip.

"You're unbelievable," Catherine says. She has this tone that's as fond as it is exasperated. "You're lucky I love you."

It's not the first time Catherine has said that she loves Danny, but the times she has are few and far between enough that the words still surprise Danny. "Incredibly lucky," he says softly.

Catherine folds her hand into Danny's and pulls him toward their bedroom.

~*~

The next morning, Danny wakes up with ideas upon ideas in his head. He stops just long enough to pee, and then he's on his computer, typing all the ideas as they come into his head. Most of the time he brainstorms on paper, because it gives him room to think, but today he feels like he won't be able to get the words out fast enough if he writes longhand.

By midday, Danny has everything worked out. Now he just has to ask Catherine for a little favor.

The topic is very sensitive, so Danny knows he's going to have to approach it delicately. He kind of ends up going about five steps past delicate when he's got his mother's lasagna in the oven, Catherine's favorite lilies in a vase on the dining room table, her favorite Chicago album in the speaker system, and a tie around his neck.

Shit. 

This doesn't look like he's asking for a potentially difficult favor. A few lighted candles on the table, a ring in his pocket, and this looks like a proposal.

Danny has to admit, he's given the idea some thought. He knocked Catherine's coffee over almost eight months ago. It's been a month since he moved in, and so far, it’s all shaping up well. Even after everything that happened with Rachel, Danny thinks he and Catherine could make it work for the long haul.

It's been two months since he finished his last book, and six since he promised a book he's not quite sure he wants to write. But this morning he woke up with Steve's video on his mind, and an idea for a book he _does_ want to write, and it's making Danny feel less anxious with his life than he normally does. 

Maybe this could actually work.

It's only out of impulse that Danny goes digging through his boxes in the attic crawlspace and finds the box with his grandmother's ring. It's too soon to give it to Catherine, isn't it? 

Danny sits at the dining room table and takes the ring out of the box, looking at it. It's a small, simple emerald embedded in a thick silver band. It suited Carmelita, Danny's father's mother. She passed away not long after Danny's divorce from Rachel. After the funeral, while the family was settling the estate, Danny's great Aunt Isabella pressed the ring into Danny's hand, saying, "She wanted you to have this, Danny."

"Why?" Danny had asked, taking the ring between his fingers and looking at it. He remembered the way it always shined, sitting on her paper-thin skin. 

Isabella had lowered her voice and murmured, "She was worried about you, honey. Thought maybe you might give up looking after what Rachel did."

"Yeah, I might," Danny had said with a wry smile. "She wanted me to find someone new to wear this, huh?"

"A dead woman's ring," Isabella had replied, rolling her eyes. "How full of herself could she get?"

With a laugh, Danny had stowed the ring in one of his more-secure pockets. "Thank you, Aunt Isabella. I appreciate it."

Danny turns the ring over in his hands again and sighs. What if Catherine does get sick of Danny? It's not like there's no precedent. Rachel certainly got sick of him. 

What if Danny asks and, years down the road, Catherine sticks around only because she feels obligated by the commitment? What if Danny makes Catherine's already tragic love life even worse? 

No, Danny should wait until he's absolutely certain. 

Danny hears a gasp from near the entryway, and one look at Catherine's face tells Danny she's already seen the ring. She's already seen the flowers, and probably smelled the lasagna. She's already seen the tie.

Danny used to read people for a living. He's an expert and discerning a person's mental state from the appearance of their face. Danny takes one look at Catherine's expression and suddenly, he's absolutely sure of everything.

He slips out of his chair onto his less-achy knee and holds up the ring toward her. It's been thirteen years since the last time he did this, and everything's different. Danny's broken in a lot of places he didn't used to be, but Catherine's a little broken too. Smiling, Danny says, "Catherine Rollins, would you make me the luckiest man on earth and agree to marry me?"

For a split-second, Danny holds his breath, convinced he was wrong about the receptiveness of Catherine's expression. Then, all of a sudden, Catherine is smiling and nodding her head and crying all at once. 

"Yes, Danny. God, yes," she says, wiping her face as she crosses the room to give Danny her hands. 

They both look down and Catherine's still wearing the ring Steve gave her. "Shit," she says softly, pulling the other ring from her finger. "Sorry." Catherine looks around for a moment like she's trying to figure out where to put the ring.

Eventually she shrugs and puts it on her right hand, leaving her left free for Danny's ring. It's a little loose on Catherine's slim finger, but it goes on, and then Catherine's pulling Danny up and kissing him. She tastes salty with tears, but she's laughing, and Danny's laughing.

What a fucked up day.

It's good, though. More than good. He'll just have to ask for that favor some other time.

~*~

Studying Danny over her cup of coffee, Catherine tries to figure out what's up with him. He's been a little squirrelly since he proposed, and it's starting to worry her. Maybe he wants to take back the proposal. It was a little early in their relationship, but Catherine figures at this point they've both been through it once. They know what they want by now.

At least Catherine knows what she wants. Steve was one of the most dangerous men in the country, but Catherine always felt safe with him. She thinks she'd find Danny pretty boring if he _wasn't_ a rough-around-the-edges former cop. Yet now, she wants a nice, safe life with a nice, safe husband. Danny is nice, and Danny is safe. 

Still, there's something he's not telling her, and Catherine's going to figure out what it is. She slips her foot out of her shoe and uses her toes to nudge at Danny's knee under the table. "Hey. What's going on?"

"What?" Danny asks, setting down his pen and meeting Catherine's eyes. He must process what she said, because he takes a sharp breath and shakes his head. "No. Nothing's–" He clicks his tongue and says, "Nope, that's not true. The ring. It was my grandmother's, but if you don't like it, we will go out and get you a new one."

Catherine clutches her hand, and the ring, closer to her heart. "No. I love it!" It's a little loose, but Catherine hasn't been able to let go of it long enough to get it resized. She's only had it three days. She's telling herself after a week, she'll definitely let Danny take it to the jeweler.

Catherine narrows her eyes at Danny, who does not have the relieved expression of someone with a weight lifted from their shoulders. "What's really going on? Is Grace okay?"

"Grace is fine," Danny insists, avoiding Catherine's gaze for a long moment. Then he sighs and says, "I have a favor to ask you."

Curious, Catherine asks, "What favor?"

"It's for my work," Danny says first, like that makes his request more legitimate. He's being cagey, so obviously the favor is something he's ashamed of asking. 

"The book you're writing?" Catherine asks, setting down her coffee and leaning toward Danny. "The one where Holden's great uncle dies and leaves him the spooky house?"

Danny nods. "I have an idea for the mystery behind the house. I just need to do some research." He gives Catherine his best puppy-dog eyes, and _God_ , she hopes he's not going to ask for her clearance codes or something.

"You need help with your research?" she asks, reaching forward to fiddle with the edge of the folder she's storing her current paperwork in. 

"Not exactly," Danny says, this time with a wince. He takes a deep breath. "Okay, here it goes. If it's okay with you, I'd like to watch more of Steve's videos. I want to really capture the soldier-away-from-home vibe."

Steve's videos? Catherine takes a sharp breath. She's never shown those videos to anyone. She's captured a few frames before, which they used at the memorial service. "You want to watch them? Use his words for your book?"

"Oh, God," Danny says, holding up his hands. "Oh, no. Okay, see, this is why I did not want to ask you. And I don't want to use his words, at least not directly. I was going to write a series of letters from a soldier in a civil war field hospital. It's okay. I'll just use my imagination. That's what I do."

Danny's full on babbling now, so Catherine holds up a hand. "Danny!"

Mercifully, Danny stops talking. 

Catherine tries to imagine sharing what she has left of Steve. Part of her thinks it's the worst idea in the world. Danny has this idea of Catherine that's built on everything he's experienced about her in the last eight months. What if he sees this part of her history and feels like he doesn't know her anymore? He never got to meet Navy-Catherine. 

It was Navy-Catherine who met Steve, and Navy-Catherine who married him. Danny only knows private-analyst-Catherine. 

Then again, maybe Danny should know more about this part of her history before he makes the final decision to marry her. 

It's a lot to think about, and having Danny sitting across from Catherine, staring at her is not helping her make the decision. 

"Give me a few days?" she asks carefully, reaching for her cup again. "I need to think it over."

"Y-yeah." Danny nods, leaning toward her. "Whatever you need."

Catherine puts her eyes back on her work, but it's hard to concentrate with Danny looking over at her every two minutes. She's leaning toward giving Danny copies of the videos, but if he doesn't stop the twitchy, anxious waiting thing he's doing at the moment, she might start to expect he has ulterior motives for wanting to watch.

The most harmless ulterior motive Catherine can think of is Danny just wanting to know her better than he already does. Maybe he wants to see her through Steve's eyes, because she and Steve had a fairly successful marriage, unlike the one Danny had with Rachel.

But what if Danny's looking for something else? What if he's looking for a way out? For a moment during the proposal, Danny had seemed almost as surprised as Catherine that it was happening. What if Danny sees something on those videos that makes him love her less? What if he uses them against her and breaks up with her and she has to sleep alone again in the house she and Steve bought together?

Catherine knows one thing – if she expects Danny to be cruel, it's more likely to happen than if she expects him to be kind. She's just got to stay positive.

And let Danny sweat for a day or two before Catherine tells him she's made up her mind, and he can watch the videos. Maybe three days. This is a difficult decision, after all.

~*~

The morning Catherine hands Danny a thumb drive with copies of Steve's videos, Danny drops Grace off at school, and then heads back home instead of to the coffee shop. Catherine's got a few meetings, so she won't be working there until later, anyway, and won't miss him.

Danny sticks the thumb drive into his computer, sorts the dozen or so files chronologically, and then starts at the beginning. 

"Hey, honey," Steve says, more awkwardly in this video than the one Danny watched previously, like he had gotten used to being on camera over time. "I missed our phone call, so I'm making you this video, like you asked."

Shaking his head, Steve laughs a little. "I feel so stupid. I'm gonna have to get Rodriguez to teach me how to upload this so you can watch it."

He gives the camera a half-smile and sighs as he looks away. "It's been a rough week," Steve says, his voice completely straightforward, with barely a hint of emotion. "Mission went Fubar. One of ours got shot. They airlifted him back to Kuwait. Last we heard, he's still hanging in there."

As Steve looks away, Danny catches a tiny flash of emotion on Steve's face. Danny doesn't understand this man at all. Sure, he's got to keep his emotions in check while he's being a super SEAL Navy guy, but not showing any emotion in a video to his wife? Maybe it's a stiff-upper-lip thing, so Catherine wouldn't worry about him.

Steve sighs and then scares up a smile for the camera. "Otherwise, doing good. I got the fudge you sent along with Perry. There was only one pack right?" Steve keeps a straight face for half a second, and then he laughs. "No, I'm kidding. Perry's allergic to chocolate. But maybe you knew that when you asked him to deliver the package, huh?"

Steve sighs and shakes his head, even as he's grinning. "I can't wait to be married to you, Catherine. We'll get our leave schedules lined up one of these days!"

Looking around the room, Steve claps his hands, then rubs them together. "Okay, so that's the update. Call me or send me a video or whatever when you get a chance. I love you! Bye!"

As the video ends, Danny pauses it so it doesn't loop around again. He stares at Steve's face and there's something that flickers in Danny's stomach. Danny doesn't want to name it quite yet, so he ignores that it's there and clicks on the next video.

An hour later, Danny has finished watching all of the videos Catherine gave him. They're all variations on the same theme, Steve misses Catherine and is looking forward to the next time they get to see each other again. Steve gets more comfortable in front of the camera as the videos go on, but they're all very PG-rated. Steve's compatriots tend to make fairly regular appearances in his videos, which Danny thinks must indicate that Steve didn't have much privacy whenever he was overseas, which could also explain the relatively tame nature of the videos.

The Catherine that Danny knows has a bit of a filthy mouth in the bedroom, and he gets the feeling that she's been that way for awhile. He imagines a lot of things about Catherine changed when Steve was killed, but the ease of her words make Danny think this isn't one of them. 

It makes Danny wonder if Steve spoke back to her in similar words. He imagines what those words would sound like in his voice, and then he has to stop himself and walk around the house for a minute, because those thoughts were making him lightheaded and are clearly not productive when it comes to writing his book.

He stands in the doorway to the office and says out loud, "Daniel Williams, do not get obsessive about this."

The truth is, Danny's fairly certain it's too late.

~*~

"Dad," Catherine says, taking the wedding magazine away from her father and sitting on it so he won't try to show her any more pictures. "This is the second wedding for both of us. We don't want anything big."

Charles frowns and takes up his coffee cup, gesturing with it and almost spilling the coffee as he says, "It's a happy occasion, Catherine! You're moving on with your life!" He smiles at Danny and adds, " _Both_ of you. Why won't you let me do this for you?"

Catherine looks to Danny for a quick dose of nerves as she takes a deep breath and stares down her father. "We have our own money, Dad. We're not going to let you spend your retirement savings on a big party we don't want to have."

Danny cuts into the conversation, "Look, Charles, we appreciate the offer. We really do. And believe me, I like a good party as much as the next guy, but we're already inviting everyone we really want to be there. Can you respect that, please?"

That request puts a strange look on her dad's face. He turns toward Catherine and asks, "Are you sure, honey?" It occurs to Catherine that her father might think Danny's talking for her, like Dad doesn't know her at all.

"It was my idea to have a small wedding," Catherine insists, reaching forward to put her hands over Charles's on the table. "There are a lot of people on this island who loved Steve, Dad. I don't want to draw their attention. I just want to move on."

His brow furrowed, Charles takes a moment to think through Catherine's words. Then he asks, "But you're inviting John, right?"

"Dad!" Catherine cries. "I'm not inviting Steve's father to my wedding!"

"I just know he's happy for you," Charles replies. "I think he'd want to be there."

Danny lays a hand on Catherine's arm and says, "I'd be okay with it, if you think he'd be willing to come."

Catherine thinks about the last time she saw John – the anniversary of Steve’s death. They’d stood next to Steve’s grave and chatted for a few minutes before sharing a hug and a few tears. It had been better than the year before, but not by much. 

Still, John was family, and had been for five years of Catherine’s life. He and her father were practically best friends, now that Charles had retired to Oahu. Nodding, Catherine says, “It would be nice to have him there. If it’s not too hard for him, of course.”

“Okay,” Danny says, putting his arm around Catherine’s shoulders. “Okay. We’ll invite him. I’m still not inviting my Uncle Norman. I doubt he’d pay the airfare to get here, anyway.” He smiles and hugs Catherine a little tighter. “Besides, I’m more focused on getting this marriage right, not on some party that’s going to last a few hours, and then be over.”

Of the two of them, Danny is definitely the more romantic one. She’s sure he’s lying, and that he would like a big wedding, even if it’s something he had with his first wife, Rachel. The thing is, Danny has a big family, and most of them probably can’t afford the flight. She thinks that’s probably the reason he’s only inviting his parents and his sisters to the wedding. 

When Steve was alive, they never made much of an effort to visit each other’s families. Catherine met Steve’s sister, Mary, at the wedding, and she spent some time with John once she got stationed at Pearl. She always felt bad about the fact that in the last year Steve was alive, Catherine got to see his dad more often than Steve did.

This is a new marriage, and Catherine is determined to learn from her mistakes. Even when it feels like there’s time to waste, there never is.

She says, “Why don’t we take a trip to New Jersey, after the wedding? Have another reception there?”

Danny’s mouth drops open, which makes Catherine and her father both chuckle. “Are you serious?” Danny asks. “Because, here I thought you’d want to go on a honeymoon somewhere a little nicer than New Jersey. Not that New Jersey isn’t nice, because it is!”

“Honey,” Catherine says, leaning closer to Danny with a smile. “We live in paradise. I want to meet your family. _All_ of them.”

“Yeah?” Danny asks. He dips his chin and looks up at her through his eyebrows. “You wanna take a trip to the Federal Pen, go visit my brother, too?”

Catherine laughs, because she knows Matt Williams is in prison for money laundering and is about as threatening as a puppy, but she nods. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Blinking a few times, Danny turns to Charles and says, “Charles, you have raised a very excellent daughter, here. Good job. I only hope I can live up to your example with my own daughter.”

Charles laughs. “Are you sure you two want to wait all the way until next fall to get married? You seem ready to me.”

“Aw, thanks, Dad,” Catherine says, smiling over at Danny, who gives Catherine an encouraging nod. “But, yeah. We’re sure. We’ve both got long-term projects we want to finish up before the big event.”

“Plus,” Danny adds, “there’s this absolutely _perfect_ venue that I have scoped out. The only problem is that it’s booked until November. I think the wait will be worth it, don’t you?” He faces Catherine, addressing her.

Here’s the romantic Catherine fell for. Danny’s very different from Steve and Steve’s eternal pragmatism, and Catherine loves that about him more than she figured she would. Catherine smiles at Danny and says, “Absolutely.”


	2. Chapter 2

The coffee’s decaf, because it’s nine o’clock at night, but drinking it makes Danny feel better about trying to make his deadline two days from now. It's the perfect evening to write, because Grace is at her mother's and Catherine crashed out early after spending most of the night before staking out a lead.

Usually Danny's pretty good about keeping a schedule that will get him to his deadlines comfortably, but this chapter has been giving him trouble. This is the chapter where Jane needs to realize what the old owner of the house had hidden within his letters home to his father. Figuring out how exactly to reveal that information has Danny practically tearing his hair out.

He's got a half-formed idea in his head when he hears a car pull up and stop outside the house. Danny's not expecting anyone, and he doesn't think Catherine is either, so he assumes the car is for one of the neighbors. 

Danny has just written down the word, "String," when he hears a knock at the door. The sound startles Danny out of his zone, and puts him on edge. He and Catherine don't have any friends who would drop by unannounced, especially at this time of night.

Half-expecting the visitor to be a home invader, Danny opens the office safe and pulls out the gun and one of the ammo clips. He readies the gun as he moves toward the front door, making sure the safety is engaged before he tucks the gun into his belt at the small of his back.

By the time Danny gets to the front door, there's another knock. He checks the peephole in the door, and there's a man standing on the porch, looking back at the road. Danny's glad he left the porch light on earlier, because he can see the man's wearing some sort of military uniform – probably Navy, because they're so close to Pearl Harbor. 

Since it's doubtful the guy is a threat, and more likely he's an old friend of Catherine's or something, Danny goes ahead and opens the door. "Hey, can I help you?"

The man turns around, and Danny's fairly certain he hit his head, or he fell asleep writing and now he's dreaming, because the sight in front of Danny is impossible. 

"Uh, hey," the man says, and he even _sounds_ like the Steve McGarrett in all those videos Danny watched. "I-I'm sorry. You wouldn't happen to know where Catherine Rollins moved, do you? This used to be our– _her_ house." He gives Danny a smile that's half hopeful and half sad. It's far more charming than Danny cares to admit. 

"Sh-she's here," Danny says, stumbling over his words a little. He chuckles and makes a placating gesture toward the ghost. "Sorry, you'll have to excuse me. This is the most fucked up dream I've had in awhile."

Steve raises an eyebrow at Danny and suddenly Danny gets it.

"I'm not dreaming, am I?" he asks, feeling his bad knee wobble a little under the weight of the realization. 

"No," Steve says, holding forward his hand. "Commander Steve McGarrett. I live here."

Danny takes Steve's hand and shakes it. "Danny Williams. I live here, too." He makes room for Steve in the doorway. "Come in."

Steve moves into the house, scanning the living room like he's cataloging all the ways it's different from the way it used to be. He wanders in a path around the room, touching things here and there. He stops at the picture shelf, picking up the picture from his wedding to Catherine. Steve looks at it for a moment, then sets it back down in favor of the one next to it. It's a picture of Danny and Catherine, their arms wrapped around each other, and smiling at Charles's camera. Charles had the picture framed and gave it to them as a sort of engagement present.

"Well, this isn't awkward at all," Danny says to break the silence. 

Steve gives Danny a sidelong smile and a snort, and the only word Danny can place to the feeling it gives him is twitterpated. It's a stupid feeling to have, because Steve McGarrett is here and breathing, and Danny's life is about to fall down around his ears. And yet Danny's standing there like a teenager with a crush. 

"I'll go wake Catherine up," Danny says, turning to leave the room, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. 

"Hold it right there!" Steve says, in this commanding voice that makes Danny freeze.

Glancing over his shoulder, Danny sees that Steve has a gun drawn and pointed at him, finger off the trigger, but ready. Putting his hands up as he turns, Danny asks, "What the hell, man?"

"Why do you have a gun?" Steve asks, nodding to Danny's waist. 

Danny narrows his eyes at Steve and sees fear on Steve's face, which surprises Danny almost as much as finding out Steve isn't as dead as everyone thought. He keeps his hands up and speaks in a calming voice as he says, "I'm a former cop, and you knocked on my door after dark. It was just a precaution. I can go lock the gun away if it makes you feel better."

Nostrils flaring, Steve lowers his weapon, nodding shakily. "Yeah, okay. That makes sense. Former cop?"

"Newark Homicide, ten years," Danny replies, putting his hands down. "We good, Super SEAL?"

With another snort, Steve nods and puts his gun away. He still looks rough, breathing heavy like he's been running, but he's not threatening Danny with a gun anymore either, so Danny counts it as a win. 

"Okay," Danny says, taking another step toward the hallway and the bedrooms in the back of the house. 

He does unload the gun and lock it back in the office safe before going to wake up Catherine. Turning on the hallway light, Danny opens the bedroom door and peeks in to see if Catherine's still sleeping. She's one of the heaviest sleepers Danny has ever known, so it doesn’t surprise him that she’s still out of it.

Danny sits down on the edge of the bed and just looks at Catherine. If he doesn't wake her up, she won't know that Steve is still alive and back home. She won't leave Danny.

Not that Danny would know how to get rid of Steve. Plus, the guilt at not letting Catherine have this moment would eat Danny alive, he knows it would. 

With a sigh, Danny shakes Catherine's shoulder. "Hey, babe. You gotta wake up."

"Mmmm?" Catherine asks, squeezing her eyes shut against the light and licking her lips. "'S morning?"

"No, sorry," Danny says, brushing Catherine's hair away from her face as she opens her eyes and looks up at him. "Someone's here to see you."

"What?" Catherine asks, more conscious this time. "Who?"

Danny chuckles a little hysterically. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

Catherine furrows her brow and looks up at Danny. "What?"

"Just, go see for yourself," Danny tells her, getting more than a little impatient. He wants this done and over with so he doesn't have to live through it any longer. 

~*~

Danny's not making any sense and Catherine can't tell whether it's because he's being cryptic on purpose, or because she's still disoriented from being woken up. "There's someone here?" she asks, still confused, because why would someone come to the house at this time of night? "Oh, God," she says as she has a sudden realization. "Is it my dad? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Danny assures her. "He's fine. He's okay. Would you just–"

There's a creaking footstep just outside the bedroom and then a shadow in the doorway. Catherine's first thought is that she's seeing a ghost. How many times had she heard him come home, only to turn on the light and realize she was alone?

But then he speaks, his voice soft, almost hesitant. "Cath?"

Danny's looking up at him too, which means Danny can see him, which means he's real.

"Oh my god," Catherine says, a sob breaking her voice. He's real. Catherine tries to get out of bed, but her legs are tangled up in the sheets. "Oh my god. Steve!"

With a final shove of the blankets (and Danny's help, she suspects), Catherine kneels up on the bed and then Steve is there. He's wrapping his arms around her and he smells a little different, but mostly the same, and Catherine can't help but _bawl_.

Catherine's emotions are all over the place. There are so many of them, she's only processing a fraction of them, and even so, it's not going very well. Catherine feels like she can't breathe, like this is too much, like she needs to hit something.

The blunt, meaty edge of her fist hitting Steve's chest, Catherine cries out, "What the fuck, Steve? I thought you were dead!"

"I'm sorry," Steve says, taking another blow before he catches Catherine's wrist to keep her from doing it again. "I'm sorry, Catherine. I was taken prisoner. There was no way to get a message out."

Sniffling, Catherine looks up at Steve, and she knows he's telling the truth. Damn it, he's telling the truth. "Where?" she asks, watching Steve's face carefully. "Where were you kept prisoner?"

"North Korea," Steve replies, his eyes on hers, his face deadly serious.

Catherine knows Steve is telling the truth, but it also feels like he's leaving out part of the story. "Why did the Navy tell me you were dead? Pyongyang would've taken responsibility for your capture. Why didn't we know?"

Steve sighs and looks away for a moment before meeting Catherine's eyes again. "The CIA knew I was being held." He looks over at where Danny is still standing in the doorway. "I can't say much else."

"Classified," Catherine says, satisfied for now. Steve doesn't look that much like he's been imprisoned for three years. He's maybe a little skinnier than Catherine remembers him being, but overall he appears to be in good health. That begs the question, why didn't Steve contact her once he was out of North Korea? Catherine's fairly familiar with the CIA from her time in Naval Intelligence, so she's certain the answer to that question is also going to be "classified".

Steve nods. "Technically, I'm AWOL from Pearl, but I couldn't be this close to you and not come see you."

Catherine can't help it. She pulls Steve closer and kisses him soundly on the lips. "When do you have to go back?" she asks.

"I'm getting my retirement papers in the morning," Steve assures her, grasping Catherine's right hand and bringing it up to place a kiss on her skin. 

"If you don't get court marshaled first," Catherine says, noticing Danny's still standing in the doorway. He's watching the scene less like a jealous lover and more like a curious writer. Of course that's what he's doing. 

Still, Catherine doesn't feel right letting Steve hold her hand like this while Danny's standing right there. She pulls her hand out of Steve's and shuffles the rest of the way off the bed, getting her feet under her. As she wipes the lingering tears from her face, Catherine says, "Steve, I'm sorry. I thought you were dead, and I met Danny. We fell in love, and..." She holds up her left hand, showing Steve the ring on her finger.

"You got married?" Steve asks, his mouth dropping open like he's surprised. Like he expected Catherine to wait for him, even though she and almost everyone else thought he was dead. Well, she did wait for him. She waited two years before she met Danny. 

"Engaged," she tells Steve. She finds herself hovering between Steve and Danny. 

Steve nods, like he always does when he's trying to process a difficult piece of information. 

“I made a commitment to him, Steve.” Catherine sighs. Her legs feel weak and wobbly, but she wants to stand her ground, so she doesn’t sit down on the bed. Instead, she wraps her arms around herself and wipes away another tear. “I love him. What am I supposed to do?”

Before Steve can formulate a response, Danny steps closer, his hand at the small of Catherine’s back, and says, “Look, we don’t have to decide anything tonight.” He turns Catherine toward him with a hand on her shoulder. “I’m here as long as you want me to be, okay? I’m not leaving until you tell me to go.”

Catherine feels both annoyed that Danny’s putting this decision entirely in her hands, and comforted, because he’s not running off at the first sign of trouble. And boy, is this bit of trouble a doozy. She smiles shakily at Danny. “Okay.”

With a nod and a return smile for Catherine, Danny continues. “That being said…” He turns toward Steve, holding his arms open, then clapping them together, using his pressed-together hands to point. “I really don’t want to be the guy that puts a POW out of his own house. We’ve got a pull-out in the office. Why don’t you stay here until we get this all figured out?”

“Stay here?” Steve asks, and Catherine feels about as surprised as Steve sounds. She’s seen Danny practically scream at a guy for taking a parking spot Danny figured was his. At Kope Kamekona, he hides his favorite packets of sweetener inside a napkin dispenser, so no one else will find them. One time, they’d taken Grace to the zoo and were eating at one of the picnic tables, and Danny had practically _growled_ at the woman who tried to take the ketchup bottle without asking.

Suffice it to say that Danny’s more than a little bit territorial. He shares things regularly and freely with Catherine, with Grace, even with his policeman friend and Kono’s cousin, Chin. How is it that Steve’s already in that inner circle, when of all people, he should be the one on the outside? After all, if Catherine decides to take Steve back, that’s the end of his relationship with Catherine.

If Danny hadn’t made a point of telling Catherine he wasn’t going anywhere, she’d almost think he was trying to get out of this whole engagement thing.

Maybe that’s what he’s actually doing, he’s just trying to be more circumspect about it.

Catherine isn’t letting him off the hook that easily. Danny had been the one to propose. If he wants to take that proposal back, he’ll have to say the words to her face. 

Catherine decides to call Danny’s bluff. “Yeah. You should stay here,” she says to Steve, reaching forward to take his hand in hers. It does feel good to have him back. Catherine can’t imagine saying goodbye to him again. 

God, how the hell is she going to make this decision?

Steve looks like he’s going to say no, and Catherine can’t just let him slip away like this. She needs more time with him. 

Putting on her best puppy-dog expression, the one that Danny laughingly accuses her of using whenever she wants to get her way, Catherine says, “Please?”

Steve sighs, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he nods. “Okay. But I have to get back to base soon. Final debriefing and collect my things.”

“You need a ride?” Catherine asks, giving Steve a half-smile.

He smiles back. “Yeah, I do.”

“I’ll, uh, hold down the fort,” Danny says, scratching the back of his neck. “Give you two a little time together.”

Danny leaves the room, headed for the office, and Catherine almost feels like calling him back.

She’s here, and Steve’s here, and it’s not like old times. Nothing’s going to be the same again, and Catherine feels sick at the thought of having to get used to that fact. Again.

It was difficult enough in the first place.

At least this time, the change is happening for a more upbeat reason. “You’re alive,” Catherine tells Steve in a soft voice.

“I am,” he replies, stepping closer and tipping Catherine’s chin up, which she allows. He kisses her softly, and it’s the same as it ever was. “I made it home.”

“Home,” Catherine repeats with a laugh. Whatever that means.

~*~

Danny doesn't catch more than a half hour of sleep that night, even after Catherine comes home and lays down on the other side of the bed. She doesn't say anything, maybe because she thinks Danny's sleeping. 

Of course, Danny doesn't say anything either, and he can tell that Catherine is still awake. He dozes for a few minutes here and there, until it's almost dawn and Danny can't stand pretending to sleep any longer. Catherine, miraculously, is asleep, and she doesn't wake when Danny gets out of bed and gets dressed.

He goes to the gym, because it's his normal gym day, showers and re-dresses there, and then heads to the coffee shop. He doesn't think he'll be able to write, but a 20 ounce drip coffee with an extra shot of espresso gets his brain working and his fingers typing.

He loses track of time, absolutely skips lunch, and only just barely remembers in time that Grace is being dropped off at his and Catherine's place after cheerleading practice. 

Danny hastily gathers his things, tosses a twenty in Flippa's tip jar for taking up a table all day and hardly buying anything, and heads home.

Danny has no idea what to expect when he gets there. He exchanged a text with Catherine earlier in the day, confirming that he was just working, and he'd be in contact. He assumes Catherine will be at the house. 

Maybe Steve will be there too. It's possible. Danny had to go and invite him to stay. He's just not the kind of guy who turns his back on a friend, and even though Danny only knows Steve through Catherine's stories and his videos, he feels like a friend. 

"This is so fucked up," he says to himself as he parks in the driveway. Catherine's car is there, which means she's there, which means Steve could be there. It wouldn't take him all day to sign some papers, right?

Well, Danny's no coward, so he takes a deep breath and gets out of his car. He lets himself into the house, setting his bag down on the table next to the door. Steve and Catherine are sitting at the kitchen table, both with mugs in their hands. 

Danny finds himself more than a little relieved that they're not in the bedroom. He knows what his first thought would be after being away from his wife for three years. He knew intimately what that desperation felt like, because without it, there was no way he would've asked Catherine out in the first place.

"Hey," Danny says in greeting, holding up a hand in a tentative wave. 

"Danny!" Catherine replies, getting up and closing the distance between them. She puts her arms around Danny and gives him a good, long squeeze. "You came home."

"Yeah, I came home," Danny says softly, returning the hug. "Don't you ever think I'm not coming home, babe. Not until you tell me to leave."

Catherine nods, licking her lips nervously. She doesn't seem embarrassed, so Danny's fairly certain she's not nervous about having done something with Steve. She must just be nervous about the situation. 

And who wouldn't be?

Before Danny can make any sort of greeting in Steve's direction, Grace comes through the door, her backpack and her equipment bag swinging wildly and running into the walls. "Hi, Danno! Hi, Cath!"

Grace stops short when she sees Steve, who's getting up from the kitchen table, eyes wide. 

"Oh," Grace says, dropping her bags in the middle of the walkway. "Hi."

Danny is still trying to figure out how to explain who Steve is when Steve circles around the table toward Grace and says, "Hey, Grace. I'm Catherine's friend, Steve. She's told me so much about you." He offers his hand to Grace, like she isn't eleven years old.

Grace waits for Danny to nod his permission before she takes Steve's hand and shakes it. Her brows furrow, and then she says, "You're in that picture with Catherine."

“That’s right,” Steve says with a hesitant smile, bent down to put himself at Grace’s eye level. 

Grace thinks this through for a moment before saying, completely straightforwardly, “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

A surprised chuckle escapes from Steve and he replies, “Yeah, me too, Gracie. Me too.”

Danny has no idea where to go from here. He figures he should speak to Catherine, at least semi-privately, so he crosses the room toward her and leans in, asking in a low voice, “Can I get a minute?”

“Yeah, of course,” Catherine says, her eyes still on where Grace has decided to show Steve her latest favorite book. As she watches the scene, Catherine’s eyes soften, and Danny wonders if she’s seeing things the way they once could’ve been.

“Cat?”

Snapping out of it, Catherine meets Danny’s eyes. “Danny. Yeah, c’mon.” She takes Danny’s hand and pulls him into the hallway that heads back toward the bedrooms. “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if I should contact Rachel, see if she can take Grace for the next few days,” Danny says, pushing some of Catherine’s hair back over her shoulder, because he can’t help but touch her. “You know, just until things settle down.”

Catherine pushes her lower lip out in almost a pout. “But it’s already Grace’s dinner time. And she’s got homework. No, Danny, this is her home too. I promised her that.” She sighs. “If you really don’t want Grace and Steve under the same roof, we can get Steve a hotel room to stay in.”

“I didn’t say that’s what I wanted,” Danny insists. “I’m just thinking if there’s going to be a change in Grace’s living situation, it might be better to get her used to the idea sooner, rather than later.”

As Danny watches the way Catherine’s face falls, he wonders if maybe this couldn’t have waited another day or two. Catherine’s eyes are shiny as she looks at Danny, her mouth opening, but no words escaping.

Now Danny’s starting to panic. “Okay, okay, hey,” he says, pulling Catherine close. “I’m sorry, baby. If it were up to me, Grace would live in this house with us until she was done with college. Okay?”

Nodding, Catherine swallows loudly, before whispering, “I want that too, Danny.”

“But,” Danny replies, tilting his head toward the living room. He shrugs.

“Yeah,” Catherine agrees. She slips herself out of Danny’s hold and wraps her arms around herself instead. “How long do I have?” she asks, continuing when Danny gives her a confused look. “To make the decision? How long until you need me to decide?”

With a sigh, Danny puts his hands on his hips and looks up at the ceiling. A peal of laughter draws Danny’s attention back toward Grace, who is watching with delight as Steve makes a coin dance over his knuckles and then disappear, only to reappear behind Grace’s ear. Steve’s smile is an amazing sight to behold, and the fact that it’s directed at Danny’s daughter makes Danny’s heart thump wildly in his chest.

Danny doesn’t want to leave Catherine. He doesn’t want to deprive his daughter of having Catherine in her life, and he doesn’t want to make her move house _again_. Aside from considerations of Grace's wellbeing, Danny doesn’t want to wake up in a bed that isn’t his and Catherine’s. He’s done with looking for a partner. Catherine’s it for him. He can’t stand the thought of trying to find someone else, of going on dates with anyone else, of holding anyone else’s hand.

The thing is, Danny doesn’t exactly want Steve to go either. Danny can tell himself it’s about making sure a veteran, and someone close to Catherine, is taken care of, but he’s starting to realize that his motives aren’t exactly pure. He wants to get to know Steve, in some capacity at least.

Catherine's still waiting for an answer, so Danny shrugs again. "No time limit, babe. Take as long as you need."

Raising an eyebrow at Danny, Catherine takes half a step closer to him. "Why are you being so nice about this?" she asks, taking another step forward. "What's your angle?"

Danny's face gets hot and he tries to keep his temper under control so he doesn't get defensive, like he always did with Rachel. His jaw clenches and his nostrils flare, but after a deep breath, Danny's able to say in a fairly convincing manner, "I love you, and I just want what's best for you. Okay? Good enough?"

Catherine drops her eyes and leans closer to Danny, bumping her forehead against Danny's chest. "I don't deserve you," she whispers.

"You're right," Danny says, holding Catherine close and watching Steve admire Grace as she attempts to turn the coin through her own fingers. "You deserve better than me."

"Don't say that," Catherine replies, holding Danny tightly. "Don't you say that."

Danny doesn't respond.

~*~

Steve doesn't quite know how to process everything that's gone on during the past three years, much less the last twenty-four hours. It feels like the life he'd been holding out for, the dream that had kept him alive in that North Korean prison, is slipping through his fingers, like dry sand on the beach. 

Sneaking back onto the base had been easier than sneaking off of it, for Steve, at least. He left Catherine out on the road with a kiss and a promise that he would come home as soon as he could. Back in his temporary bunk, while he waited for dawn to arrive, Steve kept playing that one moment over and over again in his mind: Danny opening the door instead of Catherine.

Steve's wife is living with a stranger, _engaged_ to him. Steve grits his teeth, wishing he could go back to China and put another bullet in Wo Fat's brain. If it hadn't been for Wo Fat, Steve would've been back in the States just a few months after being captured. If it wasn't for Wo Fat, Steve wouldn't have been in North Korea in the first place. 

Of course, if it hadn't been for Steve's mother, the CIA would've never faked Steve's death to get her to come out of hiding, so Steve kind of has to admit he was doomed from the start. 

Still, Steve let too much time pass. He prioritized finishing the mission over coming home to his wife, and now he isn't even sure he has a wife anymore.

First thing in the morning, Steve signs all his retirement papers. Wo Fat is dead. Steve's job is done. He just wants to go home. 

Instead of calling Catherine to come get him, Steve asks the Admiral to call his father, and give him the news. He listens in to the Admiral's side of the conversation, then takes the receiver when it's handed to him.

"Hi, Dad."

"Steve?" John's voice wobbles, which is something Steve has never heard before. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, Dad," Steve replies. "It's me. I'm back." Not being able to say anything about Doris still being alive feels physically painful. Steve balls up his fist as tightly as he can manage. "Can I come over?"

"Can you–" John scoffs. "You'd better! Does Catherine know?"

"Ye–" Steve's voice breaks halfway through the word. "Yes."

"Oh, son." John sighs. "Yeah, I've heard about ... all that. The upcoming wedding. Haven't met him yet."

Steve doesn't know what to say. 

"Come on by," John says. "I'll break out the good scotch. Give you a real nice welcome back to Hawaii."

"Alright," Steve agrees. "I'll see you soon."

An ensign sees Steve off the base, helping him load his suitcase into the cab and saying, "We'll put your retirement ceremony on the docket, Commander. Admiral Pickett thinks Monday, if that works with your schedule?"

Steve snorts. His schedule? His schedule consists of going over to his dad's house, convincing Catherine to take him back, and remembering how to live back in normal society. It's pretty flexible. "Yeah, sure," he says.

~*~

Steve has only been at his dad's house for a little over an hour when Catherine shows up. "Hey, sailor," she says, walking out onto the lanai from around the side of the house. "I figured I'd find you here."

Steve stands up to greet Catherine, his heart pounding in his chest. "Hey."

As she walks closer, Catherine waves to John. "Hey, John. How're you coping?"

"Coping?" John repeats with a laugh. "Coping was what I did for three years. Today I'm celebrating!" He raises his glass and makes a toasting gesture in Steve's direction. "My boy is back home!"

Catherine laughs and crosses the lanai, passing Steve and stopping to give John a hug. "It's a miracle," she says as she pulls away from John, smiling back at Steve. "A miracle."

"Don't know if I believe in miracles," John says, patting Catherine's shoulder a few times. "But I'll take this one just the same."

The back of Steve's neck is suddenly hot, so he rubs at it, looking away from his family and out over the ocean. The air here is so clear, it almost hurts Steve's eyes to look through it. He knows he'll get used to it soon enough, but it's one more thing reminding Steve that he doesn't belong here in Hawaii. Not anymore. He made the choice two years ago to help Doris, instead of defying her and the CIA and coming back here. Steve made that choice, no one else.

This sense of not belonging seems like a fair punishment for his crime.

"Steve, can I take you to lunch?" Catherine asks, a careful, friendly smile on her face.

Wanting nothing more than to spend time with Catherine, Steve starts to nod his head, but then he realizes he's supposed to be spending time with his father. He turns his eyes toward John, who automatically waves him off. 

"I just want one more hug, kiddo," John says, setting his glass down and taking a few steps in Steve's direction with his arms out wide.

Steve returns the hug. "Saturday morning coffee, like we used to do?" Steve asks as he lets go.

"Well, of course," says John, clapping Steve on the shoulder. "If the wife can spare you." He winks at Catherine.

With a laugh, Catherine replies, "Oh, I think we can spare him for a few hours a week, at least."

Steve doesn't miss the way she says "we". It rolls off her tongue like she says it all the time. Steve is under no illusions that the "we" must include Catherine and _Danny_ , not Catherine and _Steve_.

After a few last goodbyes, Steve picks up his suitcase from the foyer and follows Catherine out to her car. It's the same blue muscle car he helped her restore when they first moved to Oahu, and sitting in it brings back more than a few good memories.

"Unless you have a craving, I was thinking we could go back to the house for lunch," Catherine says as she pulls away from John's house.

"Actually," Steve says. "I could really go for a loco moco."

Catherine chuckles, but nods her head. "Yeah, okay."

It's not long before Steve recognizes that Catherine is taking them to the Rainbow Drive-In, and he lets a grin spread over his face. "My favorite," he says as they pull up.

"Well, yeah," Catherine replies, parking the car. "There are some things that are pretty hard to forget."

Steve spends a long moment just looking at Catherine, at the pain on her face that he's caused her. "I'm sorry," he says, like it'll do any good.

Catherine sighs. She drums on the steering wheel and then turns toward Steve. "Did you finish your mission? Did you make the world a safer place?"

Steve thinks about Wo Fat staring blankly at Steve, a bullet hole through his forehead. He hears Doris screaming at him, like it hadn't been life-and-death between him and Wo Fat. He thinks about the evidence he stashed in Beijing and leveraging his freedom away from Doris' handlers at the CIA.

"Yeah," he tells Catherine, carefully controlling his breathing so he doesn't start to hyperventilate. "Yeah. Mission completed. Classified, you know."

"I know," Catherine says, giving Steve a smile and laying her hand over his. The contact helps Steve relax, his heartbeat slowing and the clawing urge to get out, to run, fading away. 

After they order, Steve says, "This reminds me of that one date I took you on, remember? We came here right before I was getting deployed that last time before we got married. You said it didn't count as a special date."

"Because it didn't," Catherine replies with a laugh. "We ate here at least once a week. That's regular, not special."

"Okay, you had a point," Steve concedes, leaning over and kissing Catherine before he thinks better of it. Pulling back, he clears his throat. "Sorry, Cath. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Steve," Catherine says, cupping his face in her right hand and sliding her thumb back against his cheek. "It's okay."

With a nod, Steve pulls away and tries to get comfortable in his seat. Turning toward Catherine, he asks, "So, do you want to tell me about your life? What have I missed?"

Catherine looks at Steve for a long moment before she nods. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Catherine skips over the whole death and funeral thing and starts telling Steve about how she retired from the Navy and started freelancing as an intelligence analyst. 

"So you don't have an office?" Steve asks, more than a little dumbfounded. "You were always so lost on leave, not having to be on base by a certain hour every day."

Catherine grins, turning to better face Steve. "Danny and I share a home office, but we usually work out of this one coffee shop. It's not far from Grace's school."

"School?" Steve asks, confused about what's going on. "Who's Grace?"

"Oh!" Catherine's eyes go wide with surprise. "Oh, we forgot to mention Grace?"

There's that non-Steve-inclusive "we" again. "Yeah, I guess so."

"She's Danny's daughter, from his first marriage," Catherine explains. "She splits time between our house and his ex-wife's house."

Steve lets that fact sink in. Catherine is engaged to a man with a daughter. Catherine has been living with a child in her house, if only part-time. Catherine is a parent now, and Steve missed it happening. 

"How old is she?" Steve asks.

"Eleven," Catherine replies. Then she holds up a hand and uses the other to reach into her pocket. "Ooh, you want to see a picture?"

Steve really doesn't, because it feels like another nail in the coffin over his hopes and dreams of coming back home. Still, it seems rude and petty to refuse. "Sure."

Catherine hands over her phone, which is open to a picture of Danny and Grace, with Grace riding on Danny's back, grinning over his shoulder. "I took that when we went hiking on Kauai a few months ago."

"She's adorable, Cath," Steve says, handing back the phone. The happiness evident in the picture makes his heart hurt. 

While they eat, Catherine tells Steve more about her life, about how she met Kono Kalakaua out surfing one day, and they've been friends ever since. About Kono's policeman cousin, Chin, who took a mutual liking to Danny when Catherine introduced them. 

And it's not like Steve really wants to hear the story, but he has got to know, so he asks Catherine, "How did you and Danny meet?"

Smiling, Catherine says, "At that coffee shop we work in. He knocked over my coffee, bought me a new one to apologize."

Steve nods. Of course that's how it went down. Of course. It's so cute and saccharine. He and Catherine met when they were both in Naval Intelligence, working alongside each other. Nothing happened between them until Steve transfered out for SEAL training, mostly because of the fraternization rules. Catherine had been stationed in Coronado during Steve's training, so it was all good luck and timing that allowed their relationship to develop. 

A year later, when Steve was finally a SEAL, he proposed. He was stationed in Hawaii, and once he and Catherine were married, it was easier to get her stationed there, too.

Life had been good, even when he was on deployment, until the day the Hesse brothers came up on his radar. 

With a shiver, Steve asks Catherine, "Are you sure it's okay that I come home? I know I shouldn't have expected things to stay the same while I was gone. You have Danny now, and Grace."

"But you're back," Catherine says, reaching over to lace her fingers with Steve's. "You're back, and I can't bear to be apart from you again so soon. Please? Stay? At least for now?"

This is so fucked up. Steve knows it's fucked up, that it's not a particularly healthy situation to put himself in, but he can't help it. He wants to go home, to his real home, not to his father's house. If the closest he can get is the pullout couch across the hall from his wife's bed, then he's going to take it.

Steve's never been all that intelligent when it comes to matters of the heart.

"Let's go home," he says, figuring there's no way this is going to be anywhere nearly as painful as being tortured by Wo Fat, and having to see his CIA analyst colleague murdered right in front of him.

At the house, Steve leaves his things packed in his bags. He sets them in the office, taking a moment to look around the room. The couch and desk are both new, and only two of the four bookshelves have been here since he and Catherine moved in. 

Steve notices that most of his books – textbooks from Annapolis, old football playbooks, a few biographies, and some novels – are still on the shelves. Just one shelf over, Steve finds a series of slim hardcover books, all with the name "Daniel Williams" as the author. They have titles like "The Shark Cage" and "The Deadly Chase" and "No Good Lie". 

Amused, Steve picks up "No Good Lie" and flips to the first page. It's about this detective, Jimmy Holden, who works in Honolulu solving homicides. It reminds Steve of the times he used to stop by the precinct with his dad, eating malasadas while he watched the beat cops bring in perps for booking. 

On the second page, Holden's partner, Jane Kahele, is introduced. The banter between the two of them is quick-paced, and _funnier_ than Steve would've expected out of Danny. Jane definitely goes blow-for-blow with Holden and Steve can't quite tell if the two of them are supposed to be together romantically, or not. 

The sound of Catherine clearing her throat draws Steve's attention away from the book. He holds it up, saying, "He's good."

"Yeah," Catherine replies. "They're not mega bestsellers, but Danny makes a decent living off of them."

"And he used to be a cop?" Steve says, resisting the urge to dog ear the page he's on before he puts the book back up on the shelf. "Newark Homicide, he said."

"Yeah," Catherine replies, leaning against the office door frame. "When his ex-wife, Rachel, moved Grace out here to Oahu, he figured it would be a good time to finish writing the manuscript he had on hand, while he waited for a position at HPD to open up. He got a book deal before HPD had an opening, so now he writes."

"He came all this way to be with Grace?"

"Yeah," Catherine says. She holds out her hand, "C'mon. I made a pot of coffee."

Steve lets Catherine lead him back into the main part of the house, but his mind is still on Danny. He moved to Honolulu from _New Jersey_ , leaving behind his career, probably his friends and the rest of his family, all so he could be with his little girl.

Any hopes Steve might have had of Danny being a bastard, of being unworthy of Catherine, have been dashed completely.

Now Steve just has to figure out how to make himself leave.

Meeting Grace is kind of surreal, though Steve knows enough sleight-of-hand that he keeps her entertained for a few minutes, and apparently wins her over.

After dinner, which is a weird affair, mostly filled with Grace talking about her day, Catherine gets a phone call. She says, "I have to take this," and slips out of the room, leaving Steve with Danny and Grace.

To break the silence, Steve picks up as many dishes from the table as he can carry, and brings them out to the kitchen. He's about to start filling the sink so he can start on the dishes, when he sees that the pots-and-pans cupboard has been replaced with a dishwasher. "When did this happen?" he says out loud, to no one in particular.

Danny comes in right behind Steve, his arms loaded up with dishes as well. "The dishwasher?" Danny asks, shaking his head. "I don't know. It's been here ever since I first saw the house."

Steve laughs a little sadly. "Cath always did hate doing the dishes." He takes Danny's armful and arranges them on the counter between the sink and the dishwasher. "Does she make you do them, too?"

"Always," Danny says with a little laugh, leaning back against the far counter and crossing his arms over his chest. "If I don't do them, they'll pile up in the sink and start growing mold."

Steve laughs as he turns on the water to start rinsing off the dishes. "This one time I came back from deployment, and we had all new dishes. I asked Cath, 'Honey, what happened to the old set?' and she said they'd _all_ been piled up in the sink and she found a rat in with them. After she got rid of the rat, she couldn't stand to use them again."

Danny lets out a peal of laughter that ends with a snort. "Oh, my god! That's amazing! So her, honestly."

"Glad I could amuse you," Steve says, rinsing a plate and then handing it to Danny. "Here, make yourself useful."

He rolls his eyes, but Danny takes the plate and opens the dishwasher, loading it in, as well as the dishes that follow when Steve hands them over. "You know," Danny says carefully, his fingers brushing against Steve's as he takes the big spaghetti pot, "you keep telling stories like that about Cat, you can stay as long as you want."

"What happens when I run out of stories?" Steve asks, turning his back on Danny and scrubbing at a particularly stuck-on piece of food. 

Danny's voice is soft, but Steve still hears it over the running water. "You should stay as long as you want."

Steve sets down the serving bowl in the bottom of the sink and turns off the water. "Why? Why would you want me to stay, Danny?"

"Is it so hard to believe it's because I love Catherine and I want her to be happy?" Danny shoots back, gesticulating with wet hands that spray water across the room when he flings them around. "Look, if you were a bad guy, I'd bust your head and throw you out on your ass, but you're not, okay? Do I want Catherine to choose me over you? Yes, of course. But I can't go making that decision for her. At least with you in the house you and me are on equal footing. If she chooses me, no one will be able to say I didn't do everything in my power to make sure she had the space to make the decision her way. Does that make any sense to you?"

The passion in Danny's voice, and all the commitment to this sense of justice he's got going on makes Steve relax. He nods as he turns toward Danny, holding out his hand. "Yeah, that makes sense. May the best man win."

Danny watches Steve's face for a moment, likely trying to suss out Steve's intentions, before he puts his hand in Steve's and gives it a firm, but not painful, shake. "Game on, McGarrett."

"Game on, Williams," Steve replies, unable to help the grin on his face. He pours the rest of the water from the serving bowl and hands it to Danny. "Here. We're almost done with the dishes."

Danny takes the bowl, just as Catherine walks into the kitchen, looking at her phone. "Hey, so I'm going to have to go on a stakeout tonight if I want to keep this contract," she says, slipping the phone into her pocket. "Are you two going to be alright together if I leave?"

"I'll be a perfect gentleman," Danny says, with a grin that makes Steve laugh.

"Yeah," Steve tells Catherine. "We'll be alright."

Catherine looks back and forth between the two of them, before saying, "All right." She steps forward and kisses first Danny's cheek, and then Steve's, which Steve savors, just like the rest of the kisses he's gotten from her in the last twenty four hours. "I'm leaving now. Say goodnight to Grace for me."

"Will do," Danny says, giving Catherine a wave as she heads down the hallway in the center of the house, and out the front door. Turning back to Steve, Danny grumbles, "She kissed me on the _cheek_."

Steve grins. "She _kissed_ me on the cheek."

"You're insufferable," Danny says, though there's laughter in his voice as the edges of his lips turn upwards. He takes the next plate and shoves it into the dishwasher. "I hate you."

From the tone of Danny's voice, Steve's almost certain Danny _doesn't_ hate him, and he's not quite sure how to feel about that.


	3. Chapter 3

"You almost ready to go, Monkey?" Danny calls to his daughter, finishing up her packed lunch and bagging it up.

When Danny looks up, it isn't Grace who comes into the kitchen, it's Steve. His short hair is flattened on one side and there are deep circles under his eyes. "Wow," Danny says, folding down the top of Grace's lunch. "You look like you barely slept at all."

Steve grunts, but doesn't respond with actual words as he stumbles toward the coffee pot and pours himself a mug. 

Danny's not quite sure how to get conversation out of a brick wall, or if he even _wants_ to in the first place. On the one hand, Steve is back, trying to restart his life with Catherine, and it's not like Catherine ever stopped loving Steve, so Danny's got a run for his money there. On the other hand, until Catherine makes up her mind, Danny has to live in the same house as Steve. He might as well try to make it a more pleasant situation to endure.

"How's the pull-out? The mattress is just a couple years old, only been used a few nights by my nephew." Danny watches as Steve heads for the refrigerator without giving any indication that he hears Danny talking. "Uh, Eric – that's my nephew – he didn't have any complaints. And that kid could complain about anything, let me tell you."

"It's fine," Steve says as he stands up out of the fridge, the butter dish in his hand. 

Noticing the butter, Danny turns to grab the bread from the pantry. "Want some toast?" he asks, but when he turns around, Steve's got a spoon from the drawer and he's carving a pat of butter from the stick. 

"Toast?" Steve asks, putting the butter-covered spoon into his coffee and stirring it around.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Danny cries, dropping the bread on the counter. "What the hell are you doing?"

Steve pauses, looking up at Danny, spoon still in his mug. "What?"

Tamping down on the urge to yell, Danny huffs. "Look, I know you just got back from overseas, but here in _America_ , we put milk in our coffee. Half-and-half. Creamer, if you're desperate. What are you doing?"

"It's just butter," Steve says, giving his coffee a few more stirs before removing the spoon and setting it on the counter. He lifts the mug to his lips, and Danny watches in disgust as Steve takes a long sip. Smiling over the edge of his mug, Steve shrugs one shoulder. "It's a team guy thing. We do it to boost energy, enhance brain function, especially during periods of sleep deprivation."

Sleep deprivation, Danny notes. Steve's no doubt in the throes of sleep deprivation, jet lagged or something, so Danny figures he might as well just let the guy have this. "Oh."

Steve takes another sip. "It's good. You want to try it?" He pushes the butter in Danny's direction.

Charitable goodwill only brings Danny so far. "No, I would not like to try it. I'll take my heart attack the old fashioned way, thanks."

As Steve nods, Grace finally bounces into the room. "I'm ready to go, Danno!"

Danny gives Grace her lunch as he wraps an arm around her shoulders and drops a kiss onto the top of her head. "Let's go, then. We don't want to be late."

Grace barely pays attention to Danny, instead taking her lunch and skipping over to Steve. "Steve! Are you going to be here when I get back from my Mom's tomorrow night?"

"Uh," Steve says, eyes wide as he looks up at Danny. "Maybe?"

Grace sets her jaw forward and furrows her brows. "You promised you would teach me another magic trick."

Danny had no idea about this promise, but he will be dead before anyone disappoints his little girl. He stands behind Grace and glares at Steve. "Is that true? Did you promise?"

Looking up and down at Grace's face, and then Danny's, Steve says, "I did promise." He crouches down so he can look Grace directly in the eye. He seems absolutely sincere as he says, "I'll be here tomorrow night. I wouldn't miss it."

Danny's stomach does something strange as Grace bounces, giving Steve a quick hug, and then turning to ask Danny, "Did you hear that? Steve's going to be here!"

"Yeah, I heard," Danny says, giving Steve a thankful smile. "See you later, I guess."

"Yeah, later," Steve says, his eyes following Grace as she heads toward the door. Sadly, Steve says, "She's a great kid, Danny."

Danny's not sure what to do with Steve's words, so he says, "Thanks," and waves a goodbye as he heads out the door. 

Danny doesn't know what to do about Steve. Catherine loves him. _Grace_ loves him.

Danny...

Well, Danny doesn't _hate_ Steve, weird coffee habits notwithstanding. Danny's being suckered in by Steve's haphazard charm, just like Grace. Just like Catherine.

He wonders if he hadn't watched those videos, maybe he'd be able to conjure up more than mild annoyance at Steve. 

God, Danny is so fucked.

~*~

Steve putters around in the kitchen for a while after Grace and Danny leave, drinking his coffee and then choking down some toast. Even after Steve showers and gets dressed, Catherine is still asleep. 

Steve doesn't know what to do with himself. He thinks about maybe trying to get some more sleep, but he knows the nightmares are just as likely to strike during the day as at night. Absently, he thinks about calling Doris. He knows he's the last person in the world she wants to talk to right now, after what he had to do. He puts the odds at fifty to one she'd actually pick up.

Steve sighs and sits down on the pull-out mattress, putting his head in his hands. He wants to feel guilty or something for coming back after three whole years, but he can't. Looking forward to being back here was the only thing that kept him going.

He decides to opt for distraction instead, and stands up, pulling "No Good Lie" off the shelf. He lays back down on the bed and opens the book, skimming past the pages he's already read. 

One page turns into ten, ten into twenty, twenty into fifty, as he just can't quite seem to put the book down. Steve's halfway through it when Catherine knocks on the open door. 

"What's going on in here?" she asks, taking just one step into the room, like she's afraid of getting too close. 

Missing the way Catherine used to get into Steve's space as much as possible, he sighs and holds up the book. "Danny's pretty good."

"Oh," Catherine says, taking another step into the room. "Yeah. I mean, I like them." She points to the book in Steve's hands. "He let me read that one just after it went to his editor."

Steve nods, thinking that it must be a nice perk to sleeping with the author, but he doesn't really want to think about Catherine sleeping with someone else. He gets it. He understands that he was gone for a long time, and Catherine thought he was dead. 

That doesn't mean Steve has to like it. 

He (spitefully) dog-ears his page and sets the book down. "How did your thing go last night?"

"Good," Catherine says, coming the rest of the way into the room and sitting at the desk chair. "Ran a little surveillance on my client's competitor. Got the pictures I needed."

Steve watches Catherine's face and thinks she used to look happier. She used to be so brilliant, Steve could barely stand to look at her. It's _his_ absence, his letting her believe he was dead, that has dulled Catherine. He's sure of it.

"What are you doing today?" Steve asks.

"Just finishing up the report and sending it off." She puts a hand on the desk. "Normally, I'd work on it in here."

Shit. "I'm in the way, aren't I?" he says, standing up.

"No, no," Catherine insists, grabbing Steve by the wrist. Her touch on his skin makes Steve shiver. Catherine smiles sheepishly, but she doesn't let go. "I mean, only a little bit."

"How long do you need me to be out of the house?"

Catherine rolls her eyes, pulling on Steve until he's face-to-face with her. She puts her hands on his shoulders. "You are not in the way. You don't have to leave the house. I just need to finish this report, and then I can take a long weekend, okay? To figure things out."

She means make a decision, doesn't she? Steve sighs. He's in the way, and as soon as Catherine has her fill of seeing him alive, she's going to decide he's the puzzle piece that doesn't fit into her new life. 

"In the meantime," Catherine says, cutting into Steve's thoughts. "The Marquis is still in the back yard. Why don't you call your dad over?"

"You _kept_ it?" Steve cries, unable to keep his feet from moving in the direction of the back door. He unlocks the door and, as he bursts through it, he finds the old girl under the rickety carport and a dusty coverslip. Catherine has followed at Steve's heels, and he can't help but reach back and pull her into a hug. "You kept it."

Catherine laughs. "I kept threatening your dad I would have it towed to a junkyard if he didn't come take it back to his place. Funny how I never got around to calling for that tow."

"Yeah, funny," Steve says, taking the cover off the car and looking back and forth between it and Catherine. It's almost like, despite her relationship with Danny, she's been waiting for Steve to come back. 

Maybe he does have a chance with her.

Steve gives his car a friendly pat, and then heads back toward Catherine. He pulls her in and she lets him kiss her, and it's wonderful. 

Before the kiss can become heated, Catherine steps back, clearing her throat. There's genuine regret in her expression as she says, "I really do have to get some work done. You'll call your dad?"

"Yeah," Steve says with a decisive nod. "That's exactly what I'll do."

~*~

A cup of coffee is set down right next to Danny's laptop, and Danny looks up to see Chin Ho Kelly. He's wearing his badge and gun on his hip, but otherwise he looks very aloha in his floral print shirt and his shorts. "Hey," Danny says, smiling at his friend and taking the coffee. "What's this for? Did you owe me one?"

Chin sits down across the table from Danny, and says, "John McGarrett called me."

"Oh," Danny replies, pulling his laptop screen down so he doesn't have to look over it to have a conversation with Chin. "So you know about…"

"Yeah," Chin says, in that absolute, matter-of-fact way that he has. "Tough break, brah. You need a place to crash?"

Danny snorts and takes a sip of the coffee. Either Chin has Danny's order memorized (which wouldn't surprise Danny), or Flippa tipped him off. "I'm not bunking down with you and your very pregnant wife, Chin. Besides, Catherine hasn't told me to leave yet, so I'm not leaving."

"Simple as that?" Chin asks, sitting back and sipping his own coffee.

Danny nods. "Simple as that." He looks past Chin, out the cafe window. It looks the same as it did before he met Catherine, but Danny knows he can't go back to being that person from eight months ago. Sighing, Danny says, "I don't know, Chin. I can't … I can't bring myself to be mad at the guy for coming home."

Chin's eyes go wide. "You? _Not_ mad about something?"

"I know, right?" Danny smirks wryly. "Pigs flying, hell freezing over."

Chin tilts his head in a sort of nod and focuses on his cup for a moment. "How's the book coming? The one you were basing on Steve's videos?"

Narrowing his eyes at Chin, Danny curses the day he told Chin about those videos. "I'm only about halfway through the first draft."

"Ouch," Chin says, like he has any idea how Steve's appearance will affect Danny's creativity. Danny very carefully does not think about the two-paragraph chapter on his now-closed laptop.

Frowning, Danny says, "Look, if you've got any advice on how to toe the line between not giving up on this relationship and not putting a war hero out on the street, _please_ enlighten me. I'm all ears. Truly. Grace me with your wisdom."

Shaking his head, Chin sighs. "Come surfing with me in the morning? Whenever I have a hard decision to make, the waves always help me think."

"The waves just make me fear for my life," Danny insists. "Don't you remember that last time we went out? With Catherine and Kono? Kono had to pull me to shore because I almost _drowned_."

A grin spreads across Chin's face. "Oh, yeah! I'm pretty sure Malia still has pictures."

Danny leans toward Chin, putting his hand on Chin's knee. "For the love of God and all that is holy, Chin, _promise me_ you will get Malia to delete those pictures!"

Laughing, Chin says, "But I was looking forward to leveraging those into free babysitting for the next, oh, eighteen years."

Danny sits back and crosses his arms over his chest. "You're an evil man, Chin Ho Kelly."

Chin's not even appreciating Danny's menacing glare; he's reaching for his phone instead. "Kelly," he says, turning away from Danny.

Suddenly, Danny wonders if this is how Rachel felt every time they were in the middle of an argument when Danny got a call from his sergeant back in Newark. No wonder she divorced him.

"Uh-huh. Yeah, okay, Duke. I'm on my way," Chin says before hanging up his phone and turning back toward Danny. "My offer still stands. The guest room is open whenever you need it. Or if you need anything else, just give me a call."

Danny figures he would be much angrier at Chin's threatened extortion, if Chin wasn't such a good friend in the first place. Sighing, he stands up to shake Chin's hand before he leaves. "I will," Danny promises. "Go save the world, huh?"

Clapping the back of Danny's hand before he releases it, Chin asks, "You sure you don't miss it? My unit has a position we're interviewing for right now."

The hesitation Danny feels before he tells Chin, "Nah. What's to miss?" is weird and new. He chooses to ignore it.

"Aloha, bruddah," Chin says, throwing up a hang-loose sign as he leaves.

"Bye," Danny says with a wave. He's actually glad Chin got a call, because if he hadn't, Danny probably would've made Chin come home with him, just so he'd be sure not to encounter Steve alone.

Danny wants to punch himself in the face. Steve is just a man. Danny can handle him without help. 

He picks up his phone and texts Catherine. _Are you home?_.

She doesn't answer, and Danny tries to tell himself she's probably still asleep after being up all night, not hopping into bed with her husband, the model-handsome Navy SEAL.

Danny packs his things so he can head home.

~*~

John takes the wrench from Steve and sticks his head back under the Marquis' hood. "I don't know what to tell you, son," he says, grunting as he loosens a bolt. "Things like this, you just have to speak your piece and then let the cards fall where they may."

"I suppose," Steve says, though he can't say he really believes it. There's always something you can do to help a situation, if you're creative enough.

"My offer's still open." John grunts again and then reaches in with his free hand to turn the loose bolt the rest of the way free. "Your room's just how you left it."

Groaning, Steve says, "Trying to sleep in that room was bad enough when Catherine and I were closing on this house. What makes you think five years would've made it any more comfortable?"

John looks up at grins at Steve. "I replaced the pillows!"

"Congratulations," Steve says dryly, taking the bolt John hands to him and setting it in the tray of his toolbox. "Besides, I promised Grace I would still be here tomorrow night."

"Grace?" John asks with a frown, before his eyebrows shoot up his forehead. "Danny's daughter, Grace? The little girl Charles loves to brag about?"

Nodding, Steve says, "Yeah, Danny's daughter. I didn't know how to talk to her, so I showed her a few of Mom's old magic tricks…" Steve notices the way John's face tightens up at the mention of Doris, and Steve wishes for the millionth time he could tell his dad that she isn't actually dead. For John’s sake, it's better he know nothing about Doris, or her whereabouts. Steve shakes the thought away and says, "I guess I impressed her or something."

John presses his lips together. "You shouldn't make any more promises you're not sure you can keep, Steve. Children don't…" His nostrils flare and he looks away. "Children don't respond well to that."

"Yeah," Steve says softly. "I remember."

They work on the car in silence for a while before the back door opens. Danny flies through the door like he's looking for a fight, but stops short when he sees Steve. "Oh. Hey. I thought…" Danny shakes his head, and then waves at John. "You must be McGarrett Senior."

"That's me," John says, wiping his hands on a rag before holding one out. "You must be Danny. Charles has told me a lot about you."

"Charles is a gossip," Danny replies, taking John’s hand and shaking it. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise," John says, his smile awkwardly broad as he takes back his hand and wrings the rag between them, like he's not sure what else to do with his hands. "Chin Ho Kelly has only great things to say about you."

Shrugging, Danny says, "Chin's a good friend."

"Chin's a good kid," John says.

Scoffing and putting his hands in his pockets, Danny says, "Chin's forty years old."

"Jesus." John laughs. "Don't make me feel so old, son." He claps a hand on Steve's shoulder. "You're all kids to me. Even thirty-seven-year-olds who go MIA through most of Asia for three years." John winks. "Whippersnappers, all of you."

Danny laughs, ducking his chin toward the open collar of his button-down shirt. "I guess I shouldn't remind you I have an eleven-year-old-daughter."

"Never," John agrees, and Steve has to say he's impressed with Danny's ability to keep up with his dad's conversation. Steve always felt like it was difficult to joke around with his dad, that all their conversations had to be serious. Danny doesn't have that same baggage, and Steve feels a little jealous, almost. "So, Chin tells me you used to be a cop. New Jersey?"

"Newark," Danny says with a nod. "Eighty-seven homicide cases cleared before I moved here and gave it up."

Steve whistles, impressed. "Eighty-seven?"

"Damn straight," Danny replies, which makes John laugh.

John nudges Steve on the arm and says, "Hey, I'm getting thirsty. Why don't you see if Catherine still keeps that beer I like?"

She does. Steve saw it in the fridge when he went rooting around for lunch. 

John says, "How 'bout you, Danny? You thirsty?"

"I…" Danny says, looking at Steve with wide eyes, like he's trying to figure out how to decline the offer without being rude.

"Get Danny a beer, too, Steve," John orders, and just like he's ten years old again, Steve's following the order before he even thinks to question it.

With a huff as his only sign of rebellion, Steve gets the beers, bringing them back out to find John explaining to Danny how they're trying to figure out if there are any breaks in the fuel line.

"I mean," Danny says, thanking Steve when he takes the beer from him, "I am a man who appreciates nice cars. The one I have sitting in the driveway out front is a _very_ nice car. I'm just not sure what a person gets out of spending time, money, and effort on a less-evolved model of a product, when perfectly good _new_ ones roll off the factory line every minute."

"Steve, are you hearing this?" John asks, taking his beer but not taking a sip. "No effort to preserve history. To preserve a classic! You know those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

"Yeah, _repeat_ it," Danny says, gesturing emphatically with the beer in his hands, "not keep it on life support far past its natural lifespan, like some sort of Franken-car."

Steve can't help but chuckle, which makes John throw up his hands and mutter, "Kids!"

Steve catches Danny watching him laugh, an odd, almost surprised look on his face. Steve wipes away his smile and takes a long drink of his beer. He thinks it tastes different than it used to.

"Well, as enlightening as this has been," Danny says, "and thank you, by the way, for that – I'm on a deadline. So, if you'll excuse me." Danny retreats back into the house and Steve's not sure if he's relieved, or what.

John clears his throat, takes a sip of his beer, and says, "I can see why Catherine likes him."

"Oh, _thanks_ , Dad," Steve replies, taking another long swallow of his beer. He kind of feels like he needs it.

John spends a long moment looking at Steve, so long that Steve's face starts to heat up. Eventually, John takes another sip of his beer, and swallows it. "Are you sure you want to win this thing, son?"

"What thing?" Steve asks, even though he knows perfectly well what John's referring to.

"Getting Catherine back," John replies, confirming Steve's suspicion.

"I want her back more than anything in the world." Steve sets his beer down on the worktable and crosses his arms.

Nodding, John looks away and licks his lips. "Time was," he says slowly, like he's still trying to piece together his thoughts, "you wanted to be quarterback more than anything in the world. I saw the way you went after that spot on the team, Steve. _This_? What you're doing here? Doesn't look much like the way you wouldn't stop for anything until quarterback was yours." He sighs. "What happened to that Steve I knew?"

Steve clenches his jaw, not quite sure how to respond. 

"Steve?"

The words come tumbling out of Steve's mouth before he can stop them. "You wanna know what happened to that Steve, Dad? He followed a lead, wouldn't let anything stand in his way, and ended up being taken captive, alright? That Steve was beaten out of me, for _months_ , because I didn't take a moment to think about whether or not the mission was a good idea. I wanted to win so bad, I lost everything, Dad. _Everything_. So maybe I can take a few goddamn days to let Catherine make this decision on her own, without trampling all over it and ruining everything. Again." Steve takes a deep breath, his lungs burning for it after all those words spoken. It's more words than he's said about what happened in North Korea to anyone except Doris. Steve lets the breath go, watching his dad's face move through chagrin, to grief, and then pity. "That Steve is gone, Dad. This is the one that came back."

"Oh, son," John says, closing the distance between them and wrapping his arms around Steve. Steve lets himself relax into the embrace as much as he can. He can already feel last night's nightmares nipping at the edges of his brain, so he sticks his nose against his dad's shoulder and breathes in, chasing them away the same way he used to when he was little.

That afternoon, after John has said his goodbyes, and Catherine has yet to come home, Danny hands Steve the remote to the TV in the living room. Steve thinks it's probably paranoid to suspect that Danny overheard Steve's conversation with his father, but that doesn't stop Steve from thinking it. 

He takes the remote, thinking he should probably just retreat into the office, but Danny's giving him this look and Steve really doesn't want to be alone, so he sits down and turns the TV to a basketball game. "This okay?"

Danny shrugs. "It's my fifth favorite sport, but alright."

"Fifth favorite?" Steve asks, unable to stop his incredulous chuckle. "You've ranked sports out to your _fifth_ favorite?"

"Yeah, so?" Danny asks, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "It's a thing I do. What does it matter?"

"It doesn't," Steve replies, facing back toward the TV and turning up the volume. After a few seconds, he turns it down again. "Okay, I have to know. What beats out basketball?"

Danny lights up with this righteous, self-important air. "First of all, you have baseball. America's pastime."

Baseball has a little too much downtime for Steve's liking, but he can see where Danny's coming from, so he gives Danny a nod.

"Then you have hockey–"

"Wait, _hockey_ is second on your list?" Steve asks, turning slightly toward Danny. "It's basically soccer on ice."

Danny gasps like Steve just killed the pope. "Soccer on ice? How _dare_ you?"

"It is!" Steve insists, unable to keep himself from laughing at the indignation on Danny's face. "You've got a goal on each end, defended by a goalie. It's two variations on the same game."

"You're wrong," Danny insists. "In fact, you're so wrong, I don't even know where to start with how wrong you are." He huffs. Loudly.

Chuckling again, and thinking Danny's just the sort of person Steve would choose for a friend, were he given the choice, Steve asks, "So what's in between hockey and basketball on this list of yours?"

"Football, obviously," Danny says, and that's one sport Steve can agree with, so he nods. "And then boxing."

"Boxing?" Steve turns a little further in his seat. "Do you know what's better than boxing?"

"You're going to tell me, aren't you?" Danny asks, rolling his eyes.

"MMA," Steve insists. "Much more interesting."

Danny rolls his eyes again, "Only if you don't care about things like science and skill."

Steve laughs. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Danny says, leaning over and plucking the remote from Steve's hand. "We're expanding your sports education right now, Steven. And we're starting with hockey."

"Okay, fine," Steve says, throwing up his hands. "But I'm still going to insist it's soccer on ice."

Danny throws a mock punch in Steve's direction, his eyes still on the TV as he flips through the sports channels. Steve has to admit that Danny is far too easy, and too fun, to rile up.

~*~

Kono narrows her eyes at Catherine over her mug of coffee. "You're telling me," she says, setting the mug down on her kitchen table, in her house, where Catherine has escaped to for the next hour or so, "that you have two hot guys who love you both living at your house right now?"

"Yes," Catherine replies, taking a sip of her own coffee. It's not quite as good as at Kamekona's, but it's free, and Catherine thinks Kono would be offended if she didn't drink it. 

Laughing, Kono asks, "So, what's the problem? Have they been fighting like two cocks in the hen house?"

"No, actually," Catherine replies, setting down her mug and playing with the handle on it. "That's the weird thing. They get along really well. Like, absurdly well. I came home the other night, and they were watching hockey together."

"Aww," Kono says, her smile wide.

Catherine glares at Kono. "What? What's with the 'aww'?"

Kono leans forward, putting her hand over Catherine's wrist. "They're becoming friends!"

Her heart dropping into her stomach, Catherine says, "Oh, no. What happens when I finally make up my mind and choose one of them? I'll be making him lose a wife _and_ a friend."

With a shrug, Kono takes another sip of her coffee. "Maybe they'll just decide bros before hoes, and both dump you."

Catherine points her finger at Kono. "Don't even say that!"

Kono's smile softens and she scoots her chair closer to Catherine's, putting her arm around Catherine's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Cath. I know this is a big deal."

Catherine sighs, but leans her head against Kono's shoulder. "How's things with you and Adam?"

"Well, his dad and brother still aren't happy with the fact that I'm a cop," Kono replies, turning in her chair to give Catherine a little bit of space. "Of course, my dad isn't happy with the fact that Adam comes from a criminal family."

"It's a real Romeo and Juliet situation, huh?" Catherine asks, not sure whether she'd prefer Kono's situation over her own. At least Kono's already made her decision, and doesn't have everyone watching her, waiting for her to show some sign of who she's going to pick.

Kono nods her head. "Hopefully without the part where everyone dies."

"Yeah, hopefully." Catherine takes a few more sips of her coffee. "I just don't know how to decide, you know? It's been almost a week, and I still can't figure out where to start." Shifting in her chair, she adds, "Plus, it doesn't help that I've been sleeping in the same bed as Danny, but Steve's right across the hall. It hasn't felt right to have sex while Steve is, like, _right there_." "Not even if you were really quiet?" Kono grins and sticks the tip of her tongue out from between her teeth. "Once, I had this boyfriend who shared a room with his little brother."

"Ew," Catherine says, smacking her hand lightly against Kono's shoulder. "It still doesn't feel right."

"You could rotate them, like tires." Kono shrugs, finishing off her coffee. She sighs. "You want me to get out a piece of paper? Do a pros and cons list?"

"No." Catherine taps on the edge of her glass with both thumbs. "You want to know the worst part?"

Kono nods.

"The worst part is that if I do pick Danny, I can't marry him until I divorce Steve. We've had to put the wedding off indefinitely. I already made a promise to him, Kono." Catherine drops her head onto her arms.

Kono rubs Catherine's back soothingly. "It's gonna be okay. It was going to be a small wedding anyway, right?"

Catherine nods.

"I'm sure everyone knows how important it is for you to make the right decision here. If the boys are getting along well, maybe it would be best to just ride it out until you feel your heart pulling you in one direction or the other." Kono gives Catherine another of her encouraging smiles. "Maybe you'll never decide."

"Oh, I'll decide," Catherine insists. "I mean, I've been deployed for months at a time. I know how to get by without, but that wasn't when I was living in close proximity to two men who I _know_ would be up for it as soon as I asked. I'm gonna decide."

Kono nods, patting Catherine's back a few more times. "Good luck, Catherine."

"Thanks," Catherine replies. "Thanks for the coffee, and the surfing this morning. I really needed to get out of the house."

"What do you think Steve and Danny are going to be doing when you get home?" Kono raises one eyebrow, which makes Catherine chuckle.

"I'm not sure I want to know."

Catherine does head home eventually. When she gets there, Steve, Danny, and Grace are all sitting around the kitchen table, playing a board game. "Alright, Uncle Steve," Grace cries, "it's your turn!"

_Uncle_ Steve?

Catherine knows it's common practice here in Hawaii for children to call any adult in their life "Auntie" or "Uncle", even if there's no blood relationship between them. Still, it makes Catherine wonder what would happen if Catherine were to divorce Steve. He would go away, build his life somewhere else, and Grace would be deprived of his presence in her life. 

Well, if Catherine chooses Steve, and she breaks up with Danny, Grace won't be seeing Steve anymore either. The sooner Catherine ends this, the better.

But then Catherine joins them at the table, and Grace grins up at Catherine, saying, "Since you weren't here, I told Uncle Steve he could be green. You can be yellow, if you want?" And Grace just looks _so_ happy. Steve and Danny both smile at Catherine, Steve amused, and Danny fond. Everything feels good, and like family, and Catherine _can't_ put a stop to it.

She's going to have to do as Kono suggested. She's going to have to ride the swells and troughs of this thing until she finds a current pulling her one way or the other. 

~*~

Danny finishes off his chapter, saving it for a read-through after he's gotten himself another cup of coffee. As he passes on his way up to the register, he puts his hand on Steve's shoulder. "You want anything?"

Steve blinks a few times as he looks up from his computer. He's been working on _something_ secret all morning. Apparently it has something to do with getting himself a job, preferably with the federal government, so he can use his naval career as time toward earning a pension. Danny thinks Steve must be trying to prove to Catherine he can still be a provider, even though he stumbles out of his room shaking in the mornings because of his nightmares.

"Uh, yeah," Steve says, looking up at Danny. He hands Danny his ceramic mug. "Another green tea."

"You got it, babe," Danny says, not really paying attention to what he's saying. Steve has been with them for almost a month, and while Danny hasn't asked Catherine about her decision-making process, it's looking less and less likely that she's going to _actually_ make a decision. 

As Danny waits for the barista to make his coffee and Steve's tea, Danny thinks that maybe he should be more upset than he is about Catherine not making a decision. As it is, the only thing frustrating Danny now is the fact that he and Catherine haven't had sex in a month. The longer Danny has Steve around, the more Danny likes the guy, and the harder it gets to pretend that he wants to win against Steve.

"Hey," says Flippa, getting Danny's attention. "Does your boyfriend want some ice in his tea again?"

Danny's a little startled by someone referring to Steve as his _boyfriend_ , but he figures it's not worth the trouble to deny it, to insist Steve's merely a housemate, and possibly friend, and that they're both in love with the same woman. Flippa doesn't care. "Uh, yeah," Danny says, knowing Steve's too impatient to wait for the tea to cool off; the ice will keep him from burning his tongue. "Better put a couple cubes in there."

When Danny gets back to the booth, Steve has his feet out of his flip-flops (slippahs, he insists) and up on Danny's seat. Danny would rather deal with Steve's head than his feet, so as he sets down the drinks, he pushes at Steve's side. "Scoot over, would you?"

Steve does as asked without really looking up, besides to pick up his tea and say, "Thanks, Danno."

And great. He's picked up on Grace's nickname for Danny.

Sitting next to Steve, reading through the chapter and making small edits here and there, Danny thinks the only thing about this situation that feels weird is the fact that it doesn't feel weird at all. He's sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with his fiance's husband, and it's just as comfortable as if it was Catherine sitting next to him. 

Danny sighs, gets back to work, and tries to forget about it.

Catherine comes into the shop and sits down across from Danny, taking a sip from his coffee and saying, "Thanks. How's the work coming?"

"Good," Danny says, watching Catherine take a few more swallows and resigning himself to the fact that it's probably hers now. "This chapter's almost ready to send off. That puts me at least two weeks ahead of schedule."

"Nice," Catherine says with a smile and an encouraging nod. "How about you, Steve?"

Steve gives Danny a little bit of a dirty look, like he thinks Danny's trying to show him up, which was totally not Danny's intention. Smiling at Catherine, Steve says, "I think I've got a lead on a civilian position at Pearl. We'll see if it pans out."

"I'm sure it will," Catherine insists. "You know you still have a lot of friends at Pearl, a lot of people who remember not only your service record, but also your dad's and your grandfather's service. It's going to happen, Steve."

Danny holds back the snort he wants to give. There's nothing to be gained by pointing out Catherine's apparently pro stance on nepotism. Not that Danny's against it, exactly. That's how a lot of things in Jersey run, whether anyone likes it or not. He expected Hawaii to be different somehow. 

He shouldn't have.

"Thanks, Cath," Steve says, giving her one of his fantastic smiles and knocking his shoulder against Danny's.

God help him, Danny can't help but smile, too. His chest feels too tight, and Danny has no idea what to do about it, other than maybe write another book. 

~*~

Steve's driving home from his interview (he was nervous about how it would turn out, so he didn't tell Catherine or Danny where he was going), and in high spirits when he sees Danny's car in a parking lot. It's the parking lot of a gun club, and instantly, Steve's curious. He pulls into the lot and parks beside Danny's Camaro. 

Steve sticks his head into the club, which doubles as a gun shop, and he doesn't see Danny right away. He sees a very nice antique Smith & Wesson revolver that catches his eye for a moment, but no Danny. 

There's a sign above a staircase near the back of the shop that says, "Danger. Firing range. Ear protection must be worn. MEMBERS ONLY."

Steve gets the attention of the shop attendant. "Hey. I'm thinking about becoming a member. Can I see the firing range?"

"Sure," the woman says. "Let me just..." She stops short when the bell above the door rings as a new customer enters the shop. The attendant says to Steve, "You're obviously Navy. Familiar with firearms." She gives him a once over, and that's when Steve realizes he's still wearing his dress blues. 

"Navy SEAL," he replies.

She nods toward the stairs. "Go on down. There's earmuffs on the way down." She mimes putting ear protection on, and then turns to greet the new customer. 

Steve heads down the stairs. 

The firing range seems fairly standard. There are about six lanes lined up, each with an automatic target return. Steve spots Danny at the last lane, a local man leaning against the wall behind him. There's one other patron, a white guy about his dad's age, halfway between the staircase and Danny. 

Steve grabs the ear protection, gives them a cursory wipe, and then puts them on. As he heads toward the back lane, the local man sees Steve first. He lays a hand on Danny's shoulder, even and calm, as Danny fires off two more shots, the muscles in his forearms bulging as they hold the gun steady, and then lays his weapon down. "What is it, Chin?" Danny asks loudly, pulling at his ear protection on one side. 

Before Chin can answer, Danny sees Steve, his face flitting past surprised to a pleased smile. That smile makes Steve's chest oddly warm, like maybe he and Danny are friends. Steve thinks it's probably a bad idea to be friends with your wife's fiancé. "Hey," he says to Danny.

"Hey!" Danny says, taking his ear protection off and setting them on the counter. "What's up? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

Pointing over his shoulder as he finishes closing the distance between them, Steve says, "I just saw your car in the lot. Thought I'd see what you were up to." He takes off his own ear protection, holding the headset in one hand.

Danny looks Steve up and down, and there's this weird flash of something that passes over his face. "You're, uh, you're very dressed up today."

Steve looks down at his dress blues, his face heating up as he wishes he would've taken the time to ditch them before coming in here. "I had a thing."

The man Danny called Chin clears his throat conspicuously, drawing Danny's attention. "Oh, right," Danny says, laying a hand on Chin's shoulder. Steve feels weird about the gesture, because for some reason Steve thought it was one of the gestures Danny reserved for his family members – Steve, oddly enough, included. "Steve, this is Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly, HPD. Chin, this is Steve McGarrett. Commander or something?" Danny makes a vague gesture toward Steve's uniform. 

"Lieutenant Commander," Steve supplies, stepping forward to eye up Danny's friend and shake his hand. 

"McGarrett," Chin replies with a nod, returning the handshake. "I've heard a lot about you."

"From Danny?" Steve asks, looking over at the man in question.

As Danny throws ups his hands, like he's disavowing himself of any responsibility, Chin says, "No, actually. From your old man. He was my partner when I was a rookie."

"Huh," Steve says, and suddenly Chin Ho's name sounds familiar. "Oh, right! You were a few years ahead of me in school. You played quarterback for the Kings!"

"I was pretty good, too," Chin says with a chuckle, "until you came along and broke all my records!"

With a tilt of his head and his arms thrown wide, Steve says, "Hey, someone had to do it!"

Chin laughs. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. I guess it was too much to hope my records would last for more than five years."

Steve beams proudly, gratified by the indulgent smile Danny's giving him. He sighs happily, and asks Chin, "You were my dad's partner, huh? What are you doing shooting with Danny? You know my dad could get you into the Naval shooting range."

"Too far out of the way for my lunch break, brah," Chin insists, wincing when the guy behind Steve fires off a shot. Steve keeps himself still and regulates his breathing to help slow down his heartbeat after the startle. "Besides, somebody's gotta keep Danny in practice if we're going to convince him to join HPD."

"Join HPD?" Steve asks, his heart suddenly beating hard in his chest. Steve can't tell if his reaction is out of excitement or fear, and he thinks it's something he's got to get figured out if this interview he went to is going to pan out. "Are you really considering it?"

"No," Danny says, almost immediately. Chin raises an eyebrow and Danny leans over a bit. "Well…"

He's actually considering it. Steve gets excited for half a second, until he realizes that Catherine is going to make a decision eventually. Shit.

Feeling the need to channel his energy _somewhere_ , Steve nods at the firing range. "Well? Let's see what you've still got after a three-year hiatus."

Danny smirks and puts his ear protection back on. "You got it, army boy."

Fucking– Danny knows Steve was in the Navy, just like Catherine. Danny must say these things just to rile Steve up, and Steve doesn't quite know how to feel about that. If he and Danny were friends, Steve figures he'd probably like the challenge. 

But Steve and Danny are not friends, are they?

Steve puts his ear protection on and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Chin as they watch Danny shoot. With his arms up in perfect shooting formation, Danny's broad shoulders stretch the back of his shirt. Steve half wonders if Danny's been stepping up his game at the gym out of some misguided attempt at winning this contest in which he and Steve find themselves. 

Danny fires off five shots in rapid succession, and then sets down his gun and hits the button to return the target. There's four overlapping holes center mass, and one hole right in the target's forehead. 

Steve suddenly sees the target with Wo Fat's face and he has to look away, shutting his eyes tightly and taking a slow breath. He chuckles to cover his reaction and turns back. "That's impressive," Steve admits with a nod. He points to the gun. "Mind if I give it a go?"

Danny switches out the paper target for a new one, loads a new clip into the gun, and then gives Chin a look. "Something tells me giving you a loaded weapon isn't in my best interest. I'll remind you that one of HPD's finest is here, just in case you get any funny ideas."

"I'm not going to shoot you, it that's what you're afraid of," Steve insists, taking Danny's place at the counter. He sends the target back out, takes the weight and feel of the gun, and then raises it. The sight's a little bit off, but Steve adjusts for the deviation, and squeezes off five shots, just like Danny did. He avoids the head shot, because the idea of it makes his stomach turn, and puts all five shots center mass. 

Setting down the gun, Steve turns back to Danny and tells him, "Your sight's off."

"That why you only hit the target once?" Danny asks, pointing toward the target as Chin presses the button to retrieve it. 

"Danny?" Chin says, taking the target off the clip and holding it up to the light. "I'm pretty sure all five bullets went through this hole. It's scalloped around the edges, see?"

Danny's mouth falls open and he snatches the target out of Chin's hands. "What the hell are you talking about?"

With a chuckle, Chin says, "Hey, maybe you should apply for the open position on my squad, Steve. We'd put you through the academy."

Steve hesitates before he clears his throat and says, "I'll keep it in mind, you know, if other things don't pan out."

"What other things?" Danny asks, shoving the target at Steve like he's disgusted by it. "Are these _things_ the reason you're all dressed up?"

"It's possible," Steve replies, smirking at how annoyed Danny looks at Steve's vague response. 

The guy down the way fires again, and Steve hates the way he flinches again at the sound. It's probably barely visible to Danny and Chin, but Steve knows he wouldn't have flinched five years ago, so it grates on him, harshly. 

"Anyway," Steve says, taking a few more careful breaths as he folds up his target (he's totally bringing it home to show off to Catherine), "nice to meet you, Chin. See you at home, Danny."

"Oh, now that he's done showing me up, he's gonna leave," Danny complains to Chin, but he's smiling, so Steve laughs and turns on his heel. "Yeah, go ahead, McGarrett! I bet you couldn't do this again in a million years!"

Steve has half a mind to turn back and prove that he could do it again, and again, and again, but he finds it more entertaining to just leave on the high note. 

~*~

"Danny, come in," Rachel says as she steps back into the foyer. "Grace is finishing up her shower. She'll be down in a moment."

"Slow morning?" Danny asks, trying to keep the sarcasm in his voice to a minimum. 

Rachel frowns at Danny anyway, crossing her arms and practically tapping her foot at him. "A tad," Rachel replies. "I'd like to take this opportunity to talk to you about something."

Uh-oh. That tone of voice is never good. "About what?"

"Lately, Grace has been talking a lot about a man she called 'Uncle Steve'. Is he a friend of yours?"

Danny sighs. He supposes this was going to come up eventually. He had no chance of keeping it from Rachel forever.

"He's Catherine's husband," Danny admits, putting his hands on his hips so Rachel gets the idea that Danny doesn't want her to sass him about this. "Not as dead as we thought. The wedding's postponed until Catherine figures out what she wants to do about him."

Rachel blinks at Danny for a few moments. "Oh." He brow furrows and she looks back and forth for another few seconds before meeting Danny's eyes. "Oh, Daniel. And he's spending time at the house?"

"He's _living_ at the house," Danny tells her, holding up a finger as Rachel opens her mouth, obviously to object. "You will trust my judgement on this one, Rachel, so help me God. He's a good man, and absolutely no danger to Grace."

Rachel doesn't respect the finger. She never has, if Danny's being honest. "Has he been there every time Grace has spent the night? Danny, I deserve some input on who my daughter is and is not living with!"

"Oh, you do?" Danny says, raising his eyebrows as far as they'll go. "Is this input reciprocal? Because you know, I've never liked _Stan_."

"Well, you don't have to say his name like it's a swear word," Rachel replies. "And that's different! Stan is my husband!"

"Steve is my fiancee's husband," Danny retorts, drawing a sharper breath as he hears himself. "Granted, that argument sounded better in my head before I said it. The principle still applies. I should be able to have whoever I deem acceptable in _my_ house, Rachel. And Steve is more than acceptable. He's wonderful with Grace, Rachel. He's been teaching her magic tricks." 

Danny has to work hard to keep the goofy smile from his face. Shit. Danny's starting to realize what his feelings are doing, and he wishes to everything holy he didn't.

Rachel juts out her chin at Danny. "How good of a person can he be, Daniel? Everyone thought he was dead."

"He was on a classified mission overseas!" Danny cries, throwing his hands wide. "Lives were at stake, Rachel! Innocent lives!"

Rachel moves her hands to her hips. "If he's as great as you say, what happens when Catherine goes back to him? What will that do to Grace? You can't let her keep getting close to people who are only going to leave!"

Danny's pissed now, okay? He's pissed, and feeling mean. "Guess you should've told me that before I let Grace get close to you. After all, you are the one who started the trend of people leaving me."

"I am her _mother_!" Rachel has fire in her eyes.

Danny can't be here any longer. If he doesn't leave and calm down, he's going to put his fist through something, and there's nothing in Stan's ridiculous house Danny can afford to replace. "I'll be in the car," he grits out through clenched teeth. "Please send Grace out when she's ready."

Rachel huffs as Danny turns away from her, calling out after him, "Fine!"

Danny might slam the door a little harder than he intends.


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine wakes up from a dream that has her sweating, and her heart beating rabbit-quick. She can't even remember what the dream was about, but she's awake, and it's still a good hour before she has to get up.

She starts to turn, to try to get comfortable and fall back asleep, but there's a heavy arm over her rib cage, holding her close against Danny's chest. Danny's fuzzy, and warm, and normally she loves that about him, but right now what Catherine really wants is some space.

She pushes at Danny's arm, but he whines in his sleep, tightening his hold on her. If she wasn't already so warm, she'd just roll with it, but as it is, Catherine can barely breathe. She squirms in Danny's hold, trying to figure out how to get him to let go without waking him up. 

Danny groans and cants his hips, pushing his hard on against her ass. Catherine stills, her body warm inside and out at the thought of finally having sex again. It's been not quite two months, and Danny and Steve are both always there, and there's been no privacy, and Catherine just _wants_ Danny to fuck her so bad she feels like crying.

It wouldn't be that difficult. She'd have to push off her underwear, and get Danny out of his shorts. At this point, it would probably take her less than a minute of fucking to get off.

Groaning softly, Catherine rubs back against Danny. The pressure pushes her underwear against her pussy, making her intensely aware of how wet she is already. "God," she mutters.

Pushing his cock against her, Danny murmurs something unintelligible back, his hand splayed out across Catherine's stomach, pulling back toward her hip.

She's half-turned to capture Danny's mouth in a kiss when Catherine hears the door across the hall open, and Steve pad down the hall to the bathroom he's been sharing with Grace. She freezes, suddenly realizing what she's doing.

Face burning with shame, Catherine twists out of Danny's hold, and escapes the bed. She locks herself in the bathroom and turns on the shower, leaving the water lukewarm, bordering on cold. The water makes Catherine shiver when she steps into it. It's fine, though. It's good.

Catherine just has an impossible decision to make. 

That's all.

When Catherine gets up the courage to leave the bathroom, Danny is sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at something on his phone. He looks up at her and asks in a snide voice, "You leave any hot water for the rest of us?"

"There's plenty left," she snaps, heading to her dresser and opening the first drawer she comes across. It doesn't have any of her business clothes, and she has a meeting this morning. She closes the drawer.

"You locked yourself in," Danny says as Catherine opens her underwear drawer and chooses an appropriately boring pair of panties.

As she pulls them on, Catherine replies, "I wanted some privacy, alright?"

"Privacy from everyone?" Danny asks, standing up and heading for the bathroom door. He pauses there, not looking at Catherine. "Or privacy from me?"

"Both, okay, Danny?" Catherine says, finding a bra and struggling to get it straightened out and onto her breasts. "I needed some space."

"Oh, space," he says with a sneer as he nods. "You needed space. You want some space, all you have to do is tell me to go. I'll go." His nostrils flare and he won't look at her.

Catherine stares at Danny's profile for a second, trying to decide if he's actively trying to piss her off, or what. "Damn it, Danny," she says, throwing her towel onto the bed and stomping over to the closet, where she throws the door open. "I can't find anything in here."

Danny huffs and goes the rest of the way into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind him. The lock clicks, and Catherine doesn't want to be here when Danny gets out. She pulls on the first semi-coordinated outfit she finds, pulls up her hair, and leaves the bedroom.

Steve's running shoes are missing from the space next to the front door, which probably means he's not here to move the ridiculous truck he bought out of the driveway so she can get the fuck out of here. Luckily, he never takes his keys running, preferring to leave them on the hook next to the door whenever he's in the house.

Catherine takes Steve's keys, moves his truck, and then comes back into the house for her work things. She gathers them up without running into Danny, who has the shower going now, and then leaves. 

God, this is bad. Catherine's been out of the house just ten minutes before she regrets every word she said to Danny. On any other morning, she'd go back home, apologize, and ask Danny what she could do to make it up to him.

Unfortunately, she has a meeting in an hour, and Catherine knows she'll miss it if she goes back home. This is a meeting she can't afford to miss, so Catherine takes a deep breath and lets it go. Her apology will just have to wait a few hours.

~*~

Steve comes into the house from his morning run, noticing that Catherine's car is already gone from the driveway. Someone moved his truck onto the street to allow her car out, which probably meant she couldn't wait before leaving. Steve can't quite remember if that important meeting of hers was this morning or tomorrow. 

It doesn't matter too much. What matters at the moment is the fact that Steve's just run five miles and he's dying of thirst. 

As Steve sates his thirst by turning on the kitchen faucet and ducking down to drink directly from the stream, Danny comes into the kitchen, his hair wet and his feet bare, but his body otherwise dressed. Danny hits Steve with the back of his hand and says, "What, you never heard of using a glass before? Are you an animal?"

Steve ignores the remark and drinks until his stomach is full, coming up with a satisfied smack of his lips and a sigh. "Good morning to you too, Danno."

Danny glares for a second before opening the refrigerator and ducking into it.

"What's up your ass this morning?" Steve asks, grabbing an orange from the fruit bowl and leaning against the counter as he peels it.

The jug of milk in his hand, Danny practically slams the refrigerator door shut. "Nothing," he says with a sarcastic smile. "Why? It's not like Catherine and I had a disagreement this morning." He sets the milk down heavily and turns to pull a bowl out of the cupboard. Then he crosses past Steve, his toe catching on Steve's outstretched foot and making him stumble. "What the fuck, Steve?" Danny cries as he regains his balance.

"What?" Steve asks, standing up straighter, because he really doesn't like the pissed-off look in Danny's eyes. "I was just standing here."

"Yeah," Danny says, hands moving wildly. "You're always just _here_ , aren't you? For the past two months, you've been _right here_."

"Catherine hasn't made up her mind," Steve points out, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you're getting sick of waiting, you can go ahead and bow out."

"Bow out?" Danny snorts. "I'm not bowing out. I'll die of sexual frustration before I bow out, _buddy_." He punctuates his words with a finger pointed at Steve's chest. Steve hasn't seen much of this side of Danny before, and it makes Steve's stomach flip in anticipation. In anticipation of what, Steve's not quite sure.

"Well, I'm not going to either," Steve insists, taking a step closer to Danny. It might not be the most noble move, but he uses his height to his advantage, looking down at Danny. "You have no idea what I've been through in the past three years, Danny. I moved heaven and earth to get back here."

"Oh, there you go with the hero talk again." Danny practically stomps his foot and huffs. When he speaks again, his voice wobbles alarmingly. "I know you're trained to withstand torture, but I _am not_ , okay? I don't think I can spend one more night sleeping next to Catherine and not…" Danny looks away, pressing his fingers against his eyes. "I can't do it, okay?"

"Then don't," Steve says. "You take that poor excuse for a bed you call the pull out, and _I'll_ sleep in the bed with Catherine."

Turning away and scoffing, Danny throws up his hands. "No, see, if I do _that_ , I've as good as lost. As soon as she has you that close again, she's not going to be able to…" His fists up and parallel to each other, Danny squeezes them tightly and shakes them a little. "You're going to win, Steve. I know it. She's just too nice to cut me loose."

"Well, somebody has to win." Steve relaxes, leans back against the counter again. He feels bad about what he's going to say, but somebody has to say it. "Which means somebody has to lose."

The laugh that comes out of Danny's mouth is high-pitched and quick, hysterical almost. He rubs a hand across his forehead, and then holds up that hand, one finger in the air. "Well, I've just had a crazy idea, maybe the only way neither of us loses."

Steve wracks his brain, trying to figure out what Danny's going to suggest. Some sort of time-share arrangement? Shared custody, like Danny has with Rachel over Grace? Steve doesn't think Catherine would ever go for that, and Steve's not sure he'd be willing to go along with it. Skeptical, he asks Danny, "What crazy idea is that?"

Danny laughs again. "You're gonna kill me. I mean, I could try it. God knows, I've thought about it often enough." He takes a step closer toward Steve, but he doesn't look aggressive so much as resigned.

"Try what, Danno?" Steve asks, not quite sure he wants to know the answer. Maybe Danny's snapped and he's about to try to kill Steve or something. Maybe–

More quickly than Steve would think he was capable of, Danny grabs Steve by the back of the neck, and pulls just far enough that he can press his lips to Steve's. 

_It's a kiss_ , Steve's brain supplies helpfully, like he hasn't already tilted his head and pulled Danny closer. Steve's still trying to wrap his brain around what's going on when Danny licks into his mouth. The toothpaste-spicy caress of Danny's tongue against Steve's makes his pulse beat as fast and as hard as it had been while he was running. His whole body flushes hot and he groans, his fingers flexing against Danny's sides.

It's been more than three years since anyone's touched Steve like this, and he didn't realize how starved for it he was until it was happening. Danny gets his other hand in Steve's hair, pulling Steve down further and panting through his nose against Steve's cheek as he coaxes Steve's tongue into his own mouth and sucks on it.

Steve groans again, pulling Danny's hips against his own, needing the friction, needing to be _touched_. He gets his hands on Danny's ass, and squeezes and pulls Danny that much closer, and it's good. Oh, God. It's so good, Steve thinks he might die if he doesn't get more of it. More of Danny.

But then Steve remembers the reason he hasn't been with anyone for three years. While he was hiding out in China, there had been an opportunity or two, but Steve had turned them down, because he was a married man. He's still a married man. He made a promise to Catherine all those years ago. He's not going to break that promise now.

Steve twists his mouth away from Danny's and gently pushes back on Danny's hips. "Danny," he says softly. "I can't."

Danny takes a step back, and then another. He's panting and flushed, staring at Steve's face. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and laughs, the sound breaking Steve's heart. "Right. Right. You can't. What was I thinking?" He makes a flippant gesture and turns to leave.

Steve can still taste Danny on his lips, can still feel Danny hard against his hip, and Steve _wants_. He wants Danny so much he can barely figure out how to breathe. Danny, with his big heart, and his quick wit, and the special little smile he saves for Grace, and Catherine, and sometimes lately, Steve. And Steve _wants_ him. All of him. 

Except Danny's walking away and Steve can't let him go.

A few quick steps later, Steve has Danny's wrist in his hand. "Danno."

Danny yanks his arm from Steve's grasp and turns to face him. "Don't fuck with me on this, Steve! I just put _everything_ on the line here. Just let me go lick my wounds in peace!"

Holding up his hands, Steve says, "I'm not fucking with you, Danny. I swear. Please."

"Please, what?" Danny asks, wrapping his arms around himself. "What do you want from me, Steven?"

Steve doesn't know how to answer that question. The only word on his tongue is, "Everything."

Danny furrows his brow and glares at Steve. "What?"

"I want everything from you, Danny," Steve says, almost surprised to be saying the words out loud. "But I made vows to Catherine. This," he points back and forth between himself and Danny, "is a decision I have to make _with_ her."

Danny's jaw has dropped and he clears his throat as he closes it. "No, no. Yeah. Of course," he says, licking his lips. "With Catherine." Steve follows the movement of Danny's tongue and almost misses it when Danny says, "In case you didn't notice, I've kind of, um, had the hots for you. You know, for a while."

"Yeah?" Steve asks, feeling that warm flush through his body again. "A while, huh?"

With a scoff, Danny hits Steve's arm. "Shut up."

Steve laughs, rubbing the sting out of his arm. "I have to hand it to you," he tells Danny. "You've definitely come up with a creative end to this game of ours."

Danny smiles, then scrunches up the right side of his face. "You think she'll go for it?"

Shrugging, Steve says, "We'll never know until we ask."

"That is very true, my friend," Danny replies, stepping closer and running his fingertips down the lower end of Steve's arm until he reaches Steve's hand and squeezes it. Steve shivers. "That's very true."

~*~

Around eleven, Catherine gets out of her game-plan meeting with Billy, who's her contact man in the security company she's contracting for, as well as a good friend. Billy has given her some data to sift through, so she calls Danny as she heads back toward her car. After everything they said to each other that morning, and Catherine wants to extend an olive branch of sorts. "Hey, we working at Kamekona's today?"

"No, at home," Danny replies, and maybe Catherine's imagining things, but he sounds a little funny.

Catherine unlocks her car and sits in it as she says, "Oh. Well, since I – we – woke up early, I've had to make do with only crappy company coffee to tide me over. I think I'll go to the shop, get a few hours work done. Meet you for a late lunch?"

Danny clears his throat. "I think maybe you should come home, instead. I'll put on a pot of those good Kona grounds Steve bought."

Okay, now Catherine is sure that Danny sounds weird. "What's going on?" she asks, because while Danny's temper flares hot, he usually cools off quickly. There's something other than this morning's argument bothering him. There has to be. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing _bad_ ," Danny assures her, "but yeah."

Head spinning, Catherine tries to think of what could've happened, but she's coming up empty. "Danny?"

"Just–" he starts to say, before Steve's voice cuts him off.

"Just come home, Cath!" Steve cries, and he sounds frustrated, but happy, and now Catherine is very curious about what's going on.

"Okay, okay," she replies, all sorts of scenarios running through her mind. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

It takes more like thirty because of weird midday traffic, and when Catherine pulls into the driveway, both Danny and Steve are on the front porch, waiting for her.

Oh, this can't be good.

Catherine gathers her bag and gets out of the car, calling out to them as she closes her door. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"We need to have a discussion," Danny says, holding out his hand to Catherine as she climbs the steps. 

Those are never good words.

Catherine puts her hand in Danny's, letting him lead her into the house. Steve follows them, taking Catherine's bag and setting it aside as he closes the front door. There are three mugs of coffee sitting on the kitchen table, and Danny pushes her down in front of one of them. 

Danny and Steve sit down side-by-side, facing her. Steve's hands curl around his mug, while Danny has his hands down in his lap. The two of them look at each other, having a silent conversation with their eyes, and how did Catherine not notice they were capable of that?

"Guys?" she asks carefully, putting her hands on the table. She takes a shaky breath and lets it go slowly. "Are you finally making me choose?"

"We're," Danny says, looking at Steve again, like he's not quite sure what he wants to say, "giving you another option to choose from."

Catherine narrows her eyes at the two of them, not trusting where this might be going. "What's the option?"

"The option is choosing both of us," Steve says, like he's laying out menu options at a restaurant, rather than people's lives. 

Catherine sits back in her chair, trying to understand what Steve has told her. "Uh huh. _Both_ of you."

"That's right," Danny says. "Kinda like we've already been doing, only with more sex." He gives Catherine a hopeful grin.

Steve adds, "Yeah, and if I could get off the sofa bed and into the real bed, that would be great."

"We'll probably have to get a bigger bed," Danny says, turning toward Steve and putting his hand on Steve's elbow. "Don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah." Steve nods decisively. "Hopefully we can fit a king in that bedroom. We might have to move one of the dressers into the hall or something."

"Or, and don't shoot me here, we could go looking for a bigger house. At least one with a bigger master bedroom." Danny raises his eyebrows and smiles at Catherine, like he wants her input.

Waving her hands, Catherine says, "Okay, stop. Stop. _What_ are we talking about? A bigger bed? A bigger house? If I pick both of you? What does that even mean?"

"It means you, and me, and Danny," Steve says, drawing a circle in the air among the three of them. "All three of us together. Romantically."

While Catherine tries to understand Steve's words, she takes a sip of her coffee. It's nice, and warm, and with just the right amount of milk. She has no idea which one of the two made it for her. 

Eventually, Catherine has to ask, "Won't one of you get jealous when I'm with the other, and vice versa?"

"Will you get jealous if Steve and I start having sex with each other?" Danny asks, and at first Catherine's sure Danny's joking. The longer he keeps a straight face, the more it starts to sink in that maybe he's not joking. 

Catherine looks over at Steve, raising her eyebrows at him, and hoping for some clarity on this whole situation. 

Steve sighs and lifts up one hand to scratch behind his ear. "Look, I love you, Catherine. I want you. I want to be married to you for the rest of my life. I also want Danny. I want to be with both of you, but only if you're completely okay with it."

Catherine feels the realization sinking into her bones. Steve and Danny haven't just become good friends over the last two months of living together. They've fallen in love.

Catherine wonders how she could have missed it. Sure, as far as she knew previously, Steve and Danny were both straight. But sexuality can be fluid, and the relationship between them is so obvious now. She wants to be mad about it, get jealous, but really, it's her own fault. She couldn't decide between the two of them, practically forced them to live together. Of course this happened. 

She wants to demand that they go back to just loving _her_ , because obviously the more they fall in love with each other, the less love they'll have for her. But then it strikes her that it's not exactly true, is it? Catherine's been sitting here, loving both Steve and Danny, each of them with her whole heart. Why couldn't Danny be feeling the same way about Catherine and Steve? Why couldn't Steve be feeling the same way about Catherine and Danny?

"The three of us," she says carefully. "Equal?"

"Completely," Danny insists, holding up his hand. "Completely equal."

Catherine watches Danny's face, and then Steve's. "You two aren't going to run away together without me," she demands narrowing her eyes at Steve. 

Steve's eyes go wide and he shakes his head, looking over at Danny. "Never. Never."

Danny reaches across the table, taking Catherine's right hand in his. "Never," he says, folding her hand in his, his thumb brushing against the ring Steve gave her. "I promised to marry you, Cath. We didn't quite get there, but I did make that promise, and as long as you want me, I'll be here."

Steve tugs on Catherine's other arm until he can reach her hand, covering it with his own, bumping into the ring Danny gave her. "Same goes for me," he says, his smile so sincere it makes tears well up in Catherine's eyes.

Catherine nods at her boys. Out of some sense of fairness, she says with a shaky voice, "Now you two have to hold hands."

Steve chuckles and holds out his hand toward Danny. Danny shrugs and takes it, interlacing his fingers with Steve's. They both smile these dopey smiles at each other, and the feeling it inspires in Catherine is not jealousy. 

It's a deep riptide of want.

Well, Catherine has been waiting for some sign, some current pulling her one way or the other. Now she realizes it's pulling her straight toward the both of them, and Catherine's ears sound like the rushing of waves against the beach. 

"Fuck," she sighs, standing up and squeezing both their hands before letting go. "Okay. I'm gonna go into the bedroom and get naked now. Obviously, you're both welcome to come."

There are loud scrambling noises, possibly the sound of a chair falling over, and right before Catherine gets from the kitchen to the bedroom, one of them catches her around the waist. She can tell by his height that it's Steve, and he turns her around just in time for Danny to catch up with them.

Steve kisses Catherine desperately, walking her backward into the room. Danny's plastered to Steve's back, one hand on Steve's chest, the other running up Catherine's arm. 

Catherine's thighs hit the bed and she automatically sits down. Smiling, Steve keeps a hand on Catherine's shoulder as he turns toward Danny. Steve draws Danny into another desperate kiss, and watching the two of them kiss makes Catherine's pussy clench with desire. 

Okay, this needs to move along. Catherine scrambles to her knees on the mattress, pulling Danny closer and kissing him as she untucks his shirt from his pants. There's no hint of lingering tension in Danny's kiss, for which Catherine feels intensely grateful. 

As she unbuttons Danny's shirt, Steve's hands slide up Catherine's legs under her skirt, and she can't help but moan against Danny's mouth. Danny groans back at her and lifts Catherine's blouse over her head, trailing kisses down her neck as she pushes off his now-unbuttoned shirt. 

Steve places hot kisses against Catherine's shoulder and the nape of her neck, unclasping her bra and then her skirt. Desperate to get naked, Catherine slips out of her bra, throwing it across the room, and then sits down on the edge of the bed. By the time she's naked, so is Steve, and Danny's down to his boxers. 

Except for a few extra scars, Steve looks exactly the same naked as Catherine remembers, and now that she's allowed, she has to have him. She throws herself into Steve's arms, straddling his thighs and pressing her chest tightly against his. His cock is hard, pressed between his belly and hers, perfect for rubbing her clit against as she goes after that point on his neck that drives him wild. "God," she murmurs against Steve's skin. "You gotta fuck me, baby. I can't _stand_ it anymore."

Steve groans and shivers. "Yes, ma'am. Soon." One of his hands disappears from Catherine's back as he says, "Danno."

Catherine turns her head to look at Danny, who's watching them with dark, dark eyes. He's naked, and hard, and a little hesitant as he reaches for Steve's outstretched hand. Catherine reaches out for him as well, taking Danny's other hand, leading him closer to the bed. _Their_ bed. 

"Come here," Catherine says, moving her hand to the back of Danny's neck and squeezing as she pulls him close to kiss him, licking into his mouth, starving for him. 

Danny gasps and groans, and when Catherine looks down, she sees that Steve has his big hand wrapped around Danny's cock. 

"Oh, fuck," Catherine says, unable to stop herself from rocking her clit against Steve's cock again and again. Steve strokes his hand down and then back up Danny's dick, the head disappearing into his fist. "That's so hot. How does it feel, Danny?"

Danny's got a hand on Catherine's shoulder, his forehead against her temple and he laughs softly in her ear. "Shit, Cat," he says, his voice tight. "I– I'm gonna come. Your fucking _husband_ is gonna make me come."

Steve murmurs encouragement, and Catherine squeezes the back of Danny's neck, the way he likes. "Do it," she says to him. "Fucking come all over us. I know you've been waiting so long, baby. It's okay. Steve's got really nice hands. He used to finger me for what felt like _days_. Fuck, it was always so good."

"Jesus Christ," Danny mutters, kissing Catherine briefly before turning toward Steve and kissing him, too. Danny's breaths through his nose speed up, and then he's coming, his hips twitching and his hand on Catherine's shoulder clenching. "Oh, fuck. Fuck." His come lands on Catherine's thigh and Steve's ribs and the blankets.

Catherine catches a glimpse at Steve's face as he works Danny through the last of his orgasm. Steve's eyes are heavy-lidded with desire, but he also looks proud, which is just so endearing, Catherine feels like her chest might implode. 

Danny wobbles on his knees, pushing Steve's hand away and sitting down. He falls over onto his side, scooting up toward the pillows and he feels too far away now. 

Catherine climbs off Steve's lap and pushes at his shoulder. "Up toward the pillows."

Steve nods. "Yes, ma'am." He moves fluidly, and God, Catherine loves the power in his muscles. She traces her hand up Steve's calf, his thigh, crawling up the bed.

Briefly, Catherine considers riding Steve, but she feels like that position would leave Danny out too much. Even though he's already come, Catherine wants to keep him close, wants to prove she loves him just as much as she loves Steve. So, Catherine settles between Steve and Danny, her back to Steve. 

Catherine folds her hand in Danny's and asks him, "Do you want to watch Steve fuck me?"

Danny opens his eyes, meeting Catherine's. He licks his lips and nods. "Y-yeah."

Catherine shivers as Steve presses his chest and hips against Catherine's back and ass. His cock nestles between Catherine's ass cheeks, and fuck, he's so close to where Catherine wants him, but not quite there. "That's it, baby," Catherine tells Steve, still squeezing Danny's hand. "C'mon. I want it."

"Yeah?" Steve asks, his arm between them as he uses his hand to angle his cock down between Catherine's thighs. The blunt head of his cock slips between her pussy folds, spreading them apart and making Catherine gasp as it knocks against the lower edge of her clit. "Good?" Steve asks.

"Quit teasing, Steve!" Catherine whines, and she doesn't miss the way Danny chuckles. 

Danny switches Catherine's hand to his other one, and then trails his now-free fingers down the center of Catherine's body. By the time he passes Catherine's naval, she's aching for him to touch her. Danny palms Catherine's clit, rubbing in a slow circle that makes her groan. "Danny!" His fingers rub lower, slipping through the wet spot just behind Catherine's clit, and then Steve's cock replaces them, Steve groaning into Catherine's hair.

And then Steve is pushing into Catherine, spreading her apart, and oh it's so fucking good Catherine wants to cry. She grips Danny's hand as hard as she dares, groaning. "Oh, yes!"

"Jesus Christ," Danny swears, breathless. He gets up onto his knees and pushes at Catherine's shoulder, then Steve's. "Can you get on your backs? I want to see."

Steve hooks his upper leg between Catherine's knees, using it to pull on Catherine's leg, spreading her open as he rolls them. He puts one arm around Catherine's waist and fucks into her, deep and slow. "Like that, Danny?"

Catherine feels like she's on display, but with Danny looking at her like he's awed and speechless, she doesn't care. She laces her fingers with Steve's over her stomach and reaches the other one up over her head, bracing it on the headboard. "Yeah, Danny," she gasps, shuddering as Steve slides in again. "Like that?"

"I've died," Danny says, shuffling around until he's on his knees between Catherine's and Steve's legs. "I've died and gone to perv Heaven." He drops down onto his arms, kissing Catherine roughly on the lips before trailing his kisses down Catherine's jaw, then her neck, her breasts, her stomach.

"Fuck, Danny," Catherine groans. "Steve!"

Danny kisses Catherine's hand where she's got it tangled with Steve's. He does something else with his tongue and Steve groans in Catherine's ear. She looks down to see Danny sucking on Steve's thumb, licking it. "Oh, God, Danny," Catherine cries at the sight. "Danny, your mouth! Fuck! Get..." Catherine can't quite get out the words she wants to use.

Danny grins an impish smile up at Catherine and shuffles back further. "You mean like this?" he asks, ducking down and spreading her out with one hand, his mouth on Catherine's clit, sucking it. 

Fire spreads through Catherine's body and she cries out, convulsing as she comes, and Danny won't let up and Steve's still fucking her and she keeps coming and coming. Danny's mouth drops lower, giving Catherine a break long enough that she can suck a deep breath in.

"Holy shit," Steve groans in Catherine's ear, holding her close as he pushes into her twice more before crying out. She's clenched tightly enough around Steve's cock that she can feel it shudder as he comes. "Holy shit, Danny!"

Danny sits back on his knees, wiping off his mouth and chin, a self-satisfied grin on his face. "You liked that, huh, sailor-boy?"

"What did you do?" Catherine asks, gasping again as Steve pulls out and scoots out from under Catherine. His legs get tangled up with hers and Danny's, until Danny shifts around and comes to lay next to Catherine, on the opposite side from Steve.

"I sucked on his balls," Danny tells Catherine, and Steve groans, pressing his face into Catherine's shoulder, like he's trying to hide. Danny scoffs. "Oh, don't even try to pretend you didn't like that." 

Steve groans again, which makes Catherine laugh. She puts her arm around Danny and pulls him closer, even as she snuggles back against Steve. 

The smile on Catherine's face just won't go away, and she's absolutely fine with that. "I have to admit, I really, really, _really_ like door number three."

Steve laughs, his breath making Catherine's hair tickle her cheek. "I could get used to door number three," he says, kissing Catherine's shoulder and reaching over her to put his hand on Danny's hip. 

Danny reaches down and pulls the sheet over all three of them. He scoots closer, getting one of his legs in between Catherine's and his arm around both of them. "We're definitely going to have to get a bigger bed."

Catherine hums in agreement, before she thinks of something. "I guess the wedding is officially off." 

"Yeah," Danny replies. "Whatever. It's fine."

"Grace is gonna be disappointed," Steve says against Catherine's shoulder. 

Danny furrows his brow and lifts his head, looking over Catherine at Steve. "Did she tell you that?"

"She showed me the flower girl dress she picked out," Steve replies. He props himself up on his elbow. "Catherine and I could get a divorce?"

Catherine's heart drops and she turns toward Steve, putting her hand on the side of his face. "Steve."

"What?" Danny says, playing with a strand of Catherine's hair. "And have everyone in this relationship be a divorcee? No way. Even with amicable divorces, lawyer fees are insane."

"Danny makes a good point," Catherine says. "We could just keep on as we have been. With more sex, obviously."

"Obviously," Danny echoes, kissing Catherine, and then reaching up to kiss Steve as well. "Grace will just have to deal about the dress. I'm sure there's going to be a dance or whatever she can wear it to."

"Ah, so a payoff," Catherine says with a laugh. "I like it. I like it a lot."

Danny chuckles. "You know…" He lays down, throwing one arm behind his head and laying the other on his chest, where Catherine grabs it. "I've got a plan for the rest of the day. You two listen up and let me know if you agree."

"Yeah, okay, Danno," Steve says with a laugh.

"What's the plan?" Catherine asks.

Danny grins and turns his head. "Well, a nap, obviously. Bathroom break, round two, pizza dinner, _Top Gun_ ," Danny winks at Steve, "and then round three."

"Three rounds," Catherine says. "Someone's feeling ambitious."

"Well, we've got to bring Steve up to speed, right?" Danny says, his tongue peeking out between his teeth as he smiles. "I mean, he's been out of practice for what, three years? Game's a little rusty."

"Fuck you, Danny," Steve says, but he's laughing, trying to swat at Danny even as Catherine cackles and holds him back. "I'm not the one who came thirty seconds into a dry hand job!"

"Oh, ho! Now he's insulting my stamina! Catherine, will you tell Steve about my better-than-average stamina, on a good day?" Danny slips from the bed, resting his hands on the mattress as he looks like he's about to make a get away.

Catherine grabs a pillow and shoves it in Steve's face to hold him back from grabbing at Danny. She asks Danny, "You want me to tell him the truth?"

"Please!" Danny cries with a nod, dodging when Steve takes the pillow and throws it at Danny.

Catherine grabs Steve by the sides of his face, looks directly in his eyes, and says, "Yeah, we could probably work on Danny's stamina."

"Traitor!" Danny cries, picking up the pillow from the floor and throwing it at Catherine. "Liar!" He dives back into bed, but Catherine's ready for Danny, using his momentum to flip him over onto his back and pin him to the mattress.

"You do have a thing or two you could teach Steve about foreplay," Catherine tells Danny, leaning down to kiss him. When she pulls back, Danny's grinning, first at her, then over at Steve.

Steve looks vaguely insulted, but still amused, so Catherine laughs and kisses him, too.

This is good, Catherine decides, watching as Steve and Danny trade quips even as they kiss each other. This is going to be really good.

~*~

Danny wakes up from a dream with the urge to write down a phrase. He stumbles out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen. He turns on the light over the stove and grabs a pad of paper and a pen from the drawer. 

_Three Knocks in Memphis_ , he writes, frowning at the words once he's done. That can't be right. What does it mean?

Figuring he'll work it out in the morning, Danny leaves the paper in the kitchen and heads back toward the bedroom. In Danny's absence, Steve has sprawled away from the center of the bed, taking up Danny's space. Danny could go crash on the pull-out in the office, or on the couch in the living room.

He doesn't want to do either of those things, though. Danny gets into the bed, putting most of his body on top of Steve's. He makes a hard pillow, but Danny's not about to complain. Having Steve here in the bed with him and Catherine feels right. It certainly feels better than banishing Steve to the room across the hall every night.

Danny wonders to himself when, exactly, it was that he fell in love with Steve. Something tells Danny it happened while he was watching those videos Steve sent to Catherine. Danny's not quite sure. He's never been in love with a man before, but right around there feels like it might have been when it happened.

Of course living in the same house as Steve only made Danny's feelings for him worse. Or _stronger_ , anyway. This right here, Danny snuggling down against Steve's chest, Catherine right there in the bed with them, is the best case scenario.

Danny doesn't know how long it's going to last – he guesses not half as long as he would like – so he figures he's got to take advantage while he's got it. Not let a good thing go to waste, as it were.

Huh. That would make a good theme for his next book, the one he was just dreaming about. He'll have to remember that in the morning.


	5. Epilogue

"Are you sure your husband doesn't mind us visiting?" Clara asks, looking over her shoulder to where Eddie's sitting in the back seat, squished between two of Clara's impressively large suitcases. "I mean…"

"Don't worry, Clara," Catherine says, pulling into Kope Kamekona's parking lot. "Steve's excited to meet the two of you. And Danny can't _wait_ to show you the new house. He's so proud. It's adorable."

"We didn't even see the _old_ house," Eddie points out, grunting when Catherine pulls into a parking spot and kills the engine. Danny's Camaro and Steve's truck are already in the lot, parked right next to each other. Catherine expects she'll find Steve and Danny sitting right next to each other inside as well. 

Catherine gets out of the car and pulls forward her seat, giving Eddie a hand as he groans and squeezes himself out of the back seat. Catherine fleetingly thinks that she'll have to trade in her car before too long. She's going to need a sedan, even though this car is the one she and Steve rebuilt together in the early years of their marriage.

It'll be okay. She, Steve, and Danny are building something even more important now.

"Come on," Catherine says, leading the way toward the front door. "The boys and Gracie are already here."

"Ah, seeing my grandbaby," Clara says with a smile and a happy sigh. "Reason enough to fly all this way, wedding or no."

Catherine holds open the door, letting Clara and Eddie go through first. Eddie gives Catherine a little bit of a look, like he's not sure whether or not he should be offering to hold the door for _her_. Catherine waves him forward with a little bit of the authority she learned in the Navy. It works.

By the time Catherine's eyes adjust from the bright midday sun to the indoor cafe, Grace is already in Clara's arms, Danny's hugging his old man, and Steve is standing there, his hands clasped in front of him like he doesn't know what to do with them.

Danny gets a kiss from his mother before he reaches for Steve, pulling him forward. "Mom, Pop, this is Steve, my…" Danny gets that funny frown on his face that he always gets while trying to explain their relationship to outsiders. "Well, you know. This is Steve."

"Hi, Mrs. Williams, Mr. Williams," Steve says, stepping forward to shake hands and be prodded at. Halfway through the process, Grace hangs on Steve's elbow until he drops down and lets her whisper something in his ear. "Oh, right! Thanks, Gracie!" Steve reaches back to the table behind him and turns back with a pair of leis. "Aloha and welcome to Hawaii!"

Danny shows up beside Catherine, pressing a coffee cup into her hands. "He's such a dork," Danny says softly, his eyes doing that in-love thing that Catherine can't get enough of.

"Yeah," she replies, taking a sip of her coffee. Something about it isn't quite right, so Catherine checks the markings on the side of the cup. "Whole milk, Danny?" she hisses at him, tilting the cup as she reads the rest of what's on there. " _Decaf_?"

"It's better for you," Danny murmurs, hugging Catherine and letting his hand slide over her stomach.

Catherine frowns and bats Danny's hand away. "After my kind and gracious offer to pick up _your_ parents and all their luggage from the airport, this is the thanks I get?" Shaking her head, Catherine pushes the cup at Danny. "No. I need a new one. Whole milk is fine, but get me half-caff, at least."

Danny sighs and takes the cup, but there's a look in his eyes that Catherine doesn't like. He turns away and asks his parents what they want, before winking at Catherine and heading for the counter.

"And don't even think about having Flippa make one thing, and mark the cup something else!" Catherine points at the barista. "You hear me, Flippa?"

"Loud and clear, Mrs. McGarrett, ma'am!" Flippa calls back.

Catherine frowns, but she doesn't correct him. She kept her name when she and Steve got married, but Catherine's half-used to people's assumptions by now. 

As Steve and Danny's parents sit down at the tables Steve probably commandeered from their usual occupants, Catherine joins them. Grace scrambles into Catherine's lap, which honestly she's getting really big for, but Catherine imagines she must need the cuddles. After all, Danny's been worried about introducing his parents to Steve, and Grace has almost certainly picked up on those worries. Catherine wraps her arms around Grace and holds on tightly.

"So," Eddie says, folding his hands together on the table and looking at Steve. "You're the man who got my son back into law enforcement."

"Uh, yes, sir," says Steve, catching Catherine's eyes for a fraction of a second, like he needs the support. Catherine reaches over and puts her hand on Steve's arm. "After I retired from the Navy, the Governor asked me to put together a task force, and I had to have people I could trust on the team." He gives Catherine a side-long look. "I asked this one, too, but I can't afford the salary she insists on."

"Hey, the private sector is good money," Catherine replies, giving Grace another squeeze. Add to the lack of salary the fact that Steve and Danny are both too overprotective to let her anywhere near the field for the next year or two, and Catherine's just fine with consulting. "Besides, somebody has to pay for the house we just bought."

"It is really nice," Grace chimes in, reaching for her drink, which is the iced concoction sitting between Steve's tea-in-a-ceramic-mug and Danny's coffee-in-a-paper-cup. "My parents let me paint it myself. It's pink and purple, but on one wall, I had Uncle Chin help me paint a sunset."

Catherine doesn't miss the way Clara and Eddie both bump on Grace's use of the word "parents." It's not like she calls Catherine and Steve "mom" or "dad", but they've been acting like a family for the past six months, so Catherine's not too surprised that's how Grace thinks of them in her head. 

Every day, Catherine is grateful that Danny was able to keep custody of Grace. After Rachel told the judge Danny was living with Catherine and Steve, it looked like the judge might award full custody back to Rachel, which would've devastated everyone. Catherine has no doubt that if it had been a choice between staying with Steve and Catherine, or retaining custody of his daughter, Danny would've chosen Grace. Luckily, he didn't have to. Steve had enough pull with Governor to leverage Rachel into accepting the situation.

Danny comes back to the table, three drinks balanced between his hands. He gives his mother the short latte, his dad the twenty-ounce drip, and Catherine her drink, marked half-caff this time, though Catherine wouldn't be surprised if it's more like a quarter caffeinated.

Danny sits next to Catherine, pulling Grace over into his lap. "So, what do you guys want to see while you're here?"

Clara reaches over and pats the side of Danny's cheek with her hand. "Oh. I just want to visit with my son and his family."

"I want to see a volcano," Eddie says, taking the top off his coffee and dumping in a packet of sugar. 

Danny laughs. "Okay, Pop. We'll take a helicopter, go see one of the volcanoes."

"I could fly it, if you want," Steve offers, sitting back and giving Danny that look that Catherine knows means he's fucking with Danny.

Danny scoffs. "Steven, in what universe do you think I would allow you to fly my parents around in a helicopter?"

Steve turns to Eddie and asks, "Has he always hated flying, or is it just when I'm the pilot?"

Before Eddie can respond, Danny says, "To be fair the last time I was in a helicopter, you were flying it right at the bad guys, who were shooting at us."

"What about your novels, Daniel?" Clara asks, her hands still wrapped around her untouched coffee. 

"I'm still writing," Danny insists. "Whenever this lunatic doesn't overwork me at our day job."

"Another Jimmy Holden book?" Clara asks. "I _loved_ the last one. All those letters home from that soldier? Oh! Broke my heart, Daniel!"

"Sorry, Ma," Danny replies, giving Catherine and then Steve similar looks. "The next one's completely different."

Catherine knows a little bit about what Danny's been writing, but he hasn't let her read any of it yet. The way Danny blushes whenever she asks makes Catherine think it's a little more autobiographical than the Holden books. She's not sure how that's going to go over with his readers, but now that Danny's with Five-0, the reception doesn't matter so much.

"Well, I'm sure I'll love it, honey," Clara says with a gentle smile. "So, new house, new jobs. What else is new with you guys?"

"I got an A in science class!" Grace says, beaming as Danny hugs her tightly.

Steve clears his throat and looks over at Catherine, raising his eyebrows. Catherine nods and looks over at Danny, who says, "Oh, right." He turns toward his parents and says, "We do have some big news. We were waiting to tell you in person." He looks over at Catherine and Steve, smiling. "We're going to have a baby."

Clara shrieks, covering her mouth, and Eddie asks, "A baby? Who's having a baby?"

Smiling at Grace's proud grin, Catherine raises her hand. "Technically, I'm the one having the baby."

"You and Steve?" Eddie asks, and Catherine can practically see the poor guy's brain crumbling.

"Steve and Danno are both the daddy," Grace explains, rolling her eyes like it should be obvious.

Catherine laughs, and Steve puts his arm around Catherine's shoulder, saying, "Either one of us could be responsible. We're not really interested in finding out for sure."

Eddie still looks concerned, but Clara pats his arm and cries out, "Oh, a baby! I'm so excited! Does the new house have a nursery?"

"It's not done yet," Grace says, looking up at Danny.

Danny scoffs. "What's that look for? We've got more than six months left to get it ready."

Laughing, Catherine explains to Clara, "The boys were supposed to paint the room last weekend, but they got a case."

"Well, maybe Eddie and I can help," Clara says.

Danny shakes his head. "Ma, no. You're here on vacation! Steve and I will paint the room long before the baby comes. I promise."

"Well, as long as you promise." Clara purses her lips and raises one eyebrow at Danny, which makes Catherine laugh. Danny looks properly cowed as Clara continues. "In the meantime, is there anyplace to eat around here? We're still on East Coast time, you know."

"Yeah, Ma," Danny says, patting Grace's hips until she jumps off his lap, so he can stand as well. "There's a great place just around the corner. We've gotta feed Catherine every two hours anyway."

Catherine accepts Steve's hand as he helps her up out of her chair. She's barely gained any weight yet, but her doctor assures her that's going to change big time during the second trimester. She might as well get used to needing some help. At least she's lucky enough to have two partners looking out for her during this whole pregnancy thing. That should make things, easier, right? 

Shoving Danny's shoulder a little, Catherine says, "Damn straight, I eat every two hours. I'm growing a person, here."

Wrapping his arms around Catherine, Danny kisses her cheek. "I know, babe. Let's go eat. Any cravings in particular, or will the taco place work?"

Catherine's mouth waters. "Tacos work," she says with a chuckle as Steve slips his hand into hers as they leave Kope Kamekona. "As long as you're paying, Danno."

"It would be my pleasure," he replies, breaking away to hold the door open for his parents.

As they walk half a block and round the corner, Steve leans closer and says, "So far, so good. How do you think our dads will take the news when we tell them tomorrow night?"

"I think," Catherine says, squeezing Steve's hand and looking back to where Danny is using one hand to hold onto Grace and the other to gesture as he plays tour guide. "I think the nursery is going to be painted by the day after tomorrow."

Steve laughs. "Yeah. I bet you're right."

Catherine tightens her hold around Steve's waist and sighs. She might not have the family everyone else does, but Catherine's sure she wouldn't give Steve and Danny up for anything.


End file.
